Into the Darkest Shadows
by ZombieLycan
Summary: Post-Awakening. A woman named Aurora travels back in time from a bleak future to prevent an incredible evil from plotting a radical revolution against humanity. Meanwhile, tensions in Selene's family start to rise to a breaking point as the war continues to escalate. Will they recover to defeat this ever-looming threat or find themselves destroyed physically and psychologically?
1. Musician

**A/N: This is a restart to the fanfic that I was originally writing called, _Bleak, _before I decided not to continue doing it anymore due to lack of motivation. I felt that my original story felt like a meh-ish start and decided to rework it from scratch. I'll keep _Bleak_ up there for audience's interest and a reference point. Hope you guys enjoy. :)  
**

**EDIT: I decided to make a couple of minor changes to keep things consistent with the upcoming second chapter.**

* * *

I remember the Cleansing as if it were yesterday.

_Chapter 1: Musician  
__November 17th, 2012, 8:31 PM  
London, England  
Mathieu Walker's POV_

I was only sixteen at the time. I hung out with my older brother, Tim Walker, at an isolated cliffside near London. We spent our nights hanging around in and out of our BMW, smoking cigarettes, listening to Slayer on our car stereo, and talking about our days.

"Do you believe in supernatural forces?" I brought up to Tim, lighting up my cigarette.

Tim smiled. "Well, being a history major, somewhat because of ancient legends and odd coincidences and incidents around the world."

"I'm saying this because I was walking on my way to school and saw some guy fuckin' kick a hole in a building," I explained. "Just check it out." I showed him a picture of the hole in the wall that I took with my iPhone.

"Looked like something the Hulk would do," Tim commented. "You sure that this came from a human being?"

"I saw it with my own eyes," I expressed. "Not just that, but I heard in the news that five cop cars were sent to his house and arrested him for vandalism."

Just as Tim lit another cigarette, a police car showed up on the hill and stopped near us. Both of us were a bit freaked out, thinking we did something wrong, although both of us haven't done anything significant other than a couple of speeding tickets. "You two shouldn't be staying here," the officer said after getting out of the car.

"What do you mean?" Tim questioned. "We always hang out here!"

"You won't be anymore," the officer said with a stern tone. "Marital law is now in effect as of twenty minutes ago."

"Wait, martial law-?"

"I'm going to have to take you two to the police station to check on any abnormalities you two might possess." I was freaking out. Assuming that the officer was talking about that person that blew that huge hole in that building, he knows that there was something unnatural going on in both him and possibly others.

His sentence was cut off when a deranged man bit deep into his neck. Both of us shivered at the sight as the officer dropped dead; the man bore a leather coat, torn jeans, and a bloody white t-shirt. His long hair was greasy and his skin was pale. His menacing, demented look was scary, but there were two things that particularly stuck out; the glowing blue irises and the bloody, sharp fangs.

I felt like I was watching a horror film, only that Tim and I were actually characters in it rather than members of the audience. There's no doubt that there are freaks like him roaming among the population. I wondered how we were going to live our lives with them under our skin, let alone survive an attack from that monster.

He lunged toward us at a frightening speed, lusting for his blood. Tim grabbed the monster by both his right arm and chest to stop him from killing us. Thanks to his time in the SAS (Special Air Service), he was able to fend him off for at least a limited time. He knew he could not hold on for long, however, and told me to "get the gun!" from the car. I grabbed his vintage S&amp;M Schofield Model 3 .45 revolver, but by the time I loaded the rounds, it was too late. Tim was bitten by the neck. "No!" I screamed, shooting three rounds at the monster's jaw, neck, and shoulder. He retreated into the shadows before more shots were fired.

Tim collapsed to the ground, hyperventilating from his wound; his skin becoming pale and anemic and bleeding profusely from the neck; losing consciousness. "Shit," I gasped at the sight of his almost ethereal presence. I took off my t-shirt and tied it to Tim's wound. "Brother, you're gonna be alright. You've gone through much worse than this."

And he had been, as I recalled a car accident earlier in our childhoods that killed our parents, but spared Tim despite having severe injuries. He was the only family I had and seeing him hurt like that made me very fearful of losing him.

I put him in the car and drove recklessly to the nearest hospital, much faster than what the speed limits of the roads were. While heading there, I noticed police officers and military forces rounding up and executing people who were apparently monsters either with silver or ultraviolet weaponry.

Tim regained consciousness. "Mathieu, we can't go to the hospital," he shouted.

"You'll die if we don't!" I retorted.

"Look at this!" Tim showed me his neck, which had quickly healed in a matter of minutes, despite such a wound. "I'm one of those fucking freaks! I saw some of the shit out the windows; they'll fucking kill me!"

At that point, there was no need to take Tim to the hospital after he had become one of them. "Alright, I'm gonna get us out of the city! You'll be alright!"

As we heading for the freeway, we saw a heavy blockade of military forces in the tunnel, forcing me to make an abrupt stop. "Fuck," Tim gasped. "You should've just rammed the car through! What the fuck, Mathieu?"

"The roadblock's too heavy!" I screamed back. Even if it was a lighter blockade, I would have stopped anyway from pure instinct. Part of me wished I just drove through.

"Get out of the car," one of the soldiers ordered us to do with his voice amplified by his megaphone.

We were shaking, but Tim was easily the one that was most nervous with his affliction. He knew that he was going to die that night. And he snapped. "Fuck you!" he screamed, charging at the soldiers only to get peppered by machine gun fire.

"Tim!" I screamed, rushing toward his body, now burning internally from the many ultraviolet bullets that pierced him.

"I'm not...that..." Tim murmured weakly, almost incomprehensibly before he succumbed to his injuries.

"Fuck! No! Tim!" I cried out to the lifeless, charred remains of my brother. The only family I had.

The leader of the blockade ordered his soldiers to hold their fire and approached me slowly. He sprayed silver nitrate gas at me, then shined an ultraviolet light at my face, thinking that I was one of those monsters. "Why did you do this to him?" I growled at him. "What the fuck?"

"If he continued to live, like most of these biological threats, he would have compromised your safety and turned you into one of his kind," he replied. "They are far too dangerous to be kept alive; they rely on human flesh and blood for food."

"I wanted to help him!" I shouted.

"Your brother could never be saved!" the leader shouted. "Once a non-human, always a non-human. There is no cure. These threats cannot co-exist because of their need to kill to stay alive. Since you are clear of any infection, we're going to have to take you home. Because of your naivety and how recent this outbreak occurred, we will clear you of charges of being an accomplice to a biological threat for now. It's best not to interact with any of these monsters, whether or not they are your friends or family. Consider my words a fair, but final warning."

As a lesser police officer took me home in his squad car, I wrestled with frustration over my brother's death. Even when the soldiers had a justified reason for killing him, I really didn't want him to die. At the very least, they could have restrained him and locked him up in a heavy cell.

As much as I absolutely hated what they did, I ultimately had to agree with their actions. Perhaps for the greater good of man, by cleaning out these "biological threats," that those who are not infected would be saved.

And the one that bit Tim. With every fiber of my being, I absolutely hate him for spreading his affliction to other innocent lives, including Tim. If I ever see him again, I will kill him.

* * *

_October 1st, 2024, 8:00 PM  
Budapest, Hungary_

Following the years after the death of my brother, I decided to become a soldier in the SAS like he was to lessen the insecurities of living with these monsters (who are now labeled as vampires and Lycans, as characterized by mythology). Due to my exceptional skills three years into my time with the SAS, I was personally selected by General Albert Fisher to join SIAF (Special Immortal Activities Forces): a special operations force that is tasked for vital missions that prevent catastrophe, especially at the hands of these immortals. I served as the second-in-command of the 66th Squad under the codename, "Musician" with Larry "Reaper" Garza taking command.

In the wake of two test subjects escaping the Antigen headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, we were originally sent to extract Dr. Jacob Lane, the head of Antigen. Of course, by the time we arrived, it was too late.


	2. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

In the blink of an eye, everything has changed. I was merely a Death Dealer, trained to hunt down and kill the last of the Lycans. But now, the tides have changed. We were now becoming the hunted. How long will it be until the cycle reverses yet again, let alone end?

_Chapter 2: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back  
October 1st, 2024, 11:10 PM  
Budapest, Hungary  
Selene's POV_

David, Eve, and I continued painstakingly searching almost every corner of the city for Michael's whereabouts. In a large city with a population of 1.7 million, we decided to split up in the interest of time with David and Eve searching the area west of the Danube river while I searched eastward. I decided to have David accompany Eve, not wanting her to get lost or taken by the Lycans again. The thought of losing Michael again brought anxiety to my heart, but having something bad happen to my daughter would downright crush it. I trust David's intuition that he could do no harm to her.

Twenty-one hours had passed since I had awakened from my twelve year slumber. It's hard to keep track of all that had happened over my absence; the laws and changes that the world's governments have enforced against both vampires and Lycans; what species is dominating the war; whether there is any remnant covens left in the world; where Michael, Eve, and I stand in the middle of all of this. I'm pretty sure that Michael's thinking about this more than I am.

I've thought about escaping the war and leaving everything else behind after we find Michael, but I know that, at this point, nowhere is safe. And I know that we will have to fight hard against what will come in the future.

"I have not seen any visions from him, Mother," Eve reported to me via headset, "since we left the Antigen labs." That was four hours ago since we had killed both Quint and Jacob Lane.

"I'm not hearing any leads from the police scanner," David added. "His first instinct would be to feed on a human. All other reports seem to be unrelated."

It was strange, indeed. Having been frozen cryogenically myself, he would have been at least noticed by the authorities even more so than I had been. He was not the kind to be stealthy either. If he was able to also see visions through Eve's eyes, he would have tried to find us as well.

After twenty minutes of searching, David called, "Selene, Eve and I are calling it," breathing heavily as if he was a mortal finishing a marathon. "We've looked everywhere in the city and I'm pretty sure that wherever Michael is, he's probably either out of the city or hiding pretty damn well for someone who just woke up from cryogenic slumber."

I let out a heavy sigh. Even I was tired, but I was still willing to continue the search. "You two should head back to the safehouse."

"And you?"

"I'm going to search further." Even if Michael was unreachable, I still hung on to whatever chance that I could find him. "At least finding a lead."

"You should get some rest too," David commented. "Just don't hurt yourself too much," he ended with a concerned tone.

* * *

_11:25 PM  
Budapest, Hungary  
Lt. Mathieu "Musician" Walker's POV_

Just a day earlier, we had just finished a mission where we had cracked down on a large coven of vampires in Britain that threatened to use a tactical nuke in London. Seems like every time we are closer to stopping extreme immortal activities, another thing happens immediately afterwards.

When we arrived at Antigen HQ, Jacob Lane was found murdered by the two test subjects along with many officers that tried to take the two down. General Fisher had then ordered us to follow the two subjects, including a third that had no involvement in the incident. He discouraged us from engaging in any activity that would attract attention towards us.

Antigen had given us some information on the three test subjects including their names and species. What the three had in common were that all of them inherited the Corvinus strain: a special trait that makes an immortal immune to both ultraviolet light and silver, and stronger than an average immortal. We were unfortunately given limited amount of information on the situation due to the chaos of losing Antigen's founder, so we were forced to use our own means of following the three test subjects. We both split up with Reaper patrolling the west side of Budapest while I patrolled the east.

Being soldiers in SIAF, we gained access to some of the most state-of-the-art military technology that has yet to be mass-produced for use in other military units. We used a specially designed military tablet with an application that monitored every single square of the city via a satellite scan. The app can also scan through solid concrete, scan for thermal energy, and even scanning the movement of animate objects that have much lower body temperature compared to a regular human. In other words, we could easily see who is a immortal and who is simply a human. I swear that if Antigen or other military forces had access to this technology, both vampires and Lycans would quickly become extinct in a couple of months.

"Found one of them," Reaper reported, calling me through my earpiece. "It's Subject 2, who's accompanied by an older immortal." It was not long until I found Subject 1 on my side of the city. As General Fisher ordered, we were not allowed to engage in any form of combat unless they conspire to plot a serious crime. In fact, many of SIAF's missions discouraged the killings of random immortals unrelated to the mission. Being elite soldiers, it's not in our character to bully the weaklings - that's the job of the lesser military forces after all.

"Looks like they use telecommunications as well," I observed. "I'm going to try to copy what frequency they use." I'm sure that our subjects use a hidden frequency that most agencies cannot tap into, but with SIAF technology, we quickly intercepted their transmission.

"-should go back to the safehouse," I heard the voice of Subject 1.

"And you?"

"I'm going to search further. At least find a lead."

"You should get some rest too. Just don't hurt yourself."

"Looks like Subject 2 and her companion are heading out of the city," Reaper observed. "Subject 0 is still at large, so keep track of Subject 1. She might even lead us to him."

"Copy that."

* * *

_October 2nd, 2024, 12:10 AM  
A Safehouse Five Miles from Budapest, Hungary  
Eve's POV_

Even though we have been together for just a day, I felt worried about my mother. Even David, who would fight and die rather than surrender, was concerned for her. It's not because she partakes in such reckless tasks and actions, but that she was very agitated when it came to searching for my father.

Extremely exhausted from the last fight, I could only do so much but lay myself in bed to recover. David brought his police scanner and started recording it on a flash drive as we rested.

I hope Mother doesn't get herself killed. After being literally raised and tested in a lab for twelve years, she truly cared for my safety, unlike the false sense of care that the nurses and scientists showed.

* * *

_12:25 AM  
Antigen HQ  
Selene's POV_

After finding literally nothing for hours on end, I decided to go back to the Antigen headquarters to follow whatever steps Michael took. Knowing that there are more humans and undercover Lycans guarding the place after our fight there, it would be a bad idea to run into the place with guns blazing on my own (although that was my preferred method during my Death Dealer days).

I observed my surroundings from the rooftops, which was where Eve had last spotted Michael. Assuming that he jumped, there should have been some damage or mark from landing on either the ground or the shorter buildings that surrounded the headquarters. There were not any. Either Michael had learned how to fly or he somehow disappeared out of thin air.

And then, literally in the blink of an eye, I saw a hooded silhouette of a man, shrouded in black robes standing eighty meters ahead of me, staring at the view. "Michael?" I called out to the figure, to which he never responded. "Michael?" I repeated once more, but to no avail. At that point, I knew that he was not Michael and likely not a soldier from Antigen. "Who are you?" I grabbed his shoulder, only for him to dissolve into a black gas that blinded my sight.

* * *

_12:54 AM  
Mathieu's POV_

"What the fuck...?" I shouted at my tablet, seeing an unknown figure dissolve into a black gas, then disappearing with Subject 1.

"Musician, report!" Reaper said.

"You won't believe this, but Subject 1 literally disappeared from plain sight with some other contact," I replied. "The scanner's not showing shit right now. Something else is going on and I know it's not the Corvinus guys. I'm sending you the satellite feed."

* * *

_Selene's POV_

When the gas dissolved, I saw Budapest in both flames and ruins.

"What the fuck?" I felt like I was staring at the sight of the apocalypse as buildings around me crumbled into dust. The sky was blood red and so bright, I could almost go blind. I soon started coughing heavily from the burning, dust-filled atmosphere. Looking behind me, I saw a giant mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear explosion.

I collapsed on my knees and started coughing blood from the radiation. My skin began to char as if I was vulnerable to sunlight again before I drank the blood of Alexander Corvinus.

I tilted my head up and saw the cloaked figure again on the same rooftop. My first instinct was to make him to blame for destroying Budapest. "You!" I called out, pointing my Beretta 92FS at him. "You caused all of this!" I fired an entire clip into him but not before he dissipated into a black gas once more, which quickly surrounded me once more. I blacked out.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

"I've been in SIAF longer than you have and I haven't seen anything like this," Reaper replied to me. "Seems like we're uncovering something bigger than we have already seen."

I've felt uneasy too. I could easily shrug it off as something that is no more of a danger than what our world is going through at the moment. Still, even with the extensive research we made on both the vampires and Lycans, we have yet to fully know the true scope of how dangerous they could become.

* * *

_7:30 AM  
Unknown location  
Selene's POV_

I thought I fell dead either from the radiation poisoning or by whoever that shadowy figure was. But the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of some woodland area, probably around the Budapest area; hopefully not teleported halfway across the world.

Everything remained as it was before. The rising dawn emitted a beautiful, slowly brightening blue sky; the air was fresh; and I was unscathed and healthy, despite the anxiety of seeing such a horrible vision.

I could not tell if the vision I was shown was just a dream; it felt all too real and vivid to forget. I also wonder if that person in the black robes showed it to warn me about what the future will hold. And it is scary to me that this could possibly happen if the war goes out of control.

"Hey, ma'am, you okay?" a passerby asked me from behind. I turned my head to face him and he instantly recognized me. "You...you're one of those freaks!" he shouted, pointing his shotgun at me at close range.

Just as he fired at me (thankfully missing), he was pummeled to the ground by a grey-skinned beast.

I instantly recognized him. "Michael..."

"Get this thing off of me!" the human whimpered in fear, but Michael kept growling at him, keeping the pressure of his hands on his shoulders.

"Michael, let him go!" I shouted at him only to see him relentlessly bite into the poor guy's neck. I was forced to push him off to the side. But that was not enough to tame his hybrid form as he lunged toward me. I elbowed him in the abdomen, knocking him into a tree, which collapsed onto him.

Michael reverted back to his human form, stunned from my attack. I turned to the human, who was not moving, and checked his pulse. _Shit._ This was one of the reasons why we did not want the humans to get involved in our war and seeing an innocent bystander die by our hands set a bad example of how we're better than killing off humans.

I removed the wood that had nearly crushed Michael. "Selene," he said. I wanted to hold Michael in my arms when I had finally found him. After what he just did to that human, this wasn't a good way to reunite.

"Sorry about that, Michael," I said as I continued removing pieces of wood from him, "but you didn't have to kill that guy."

Michael felt absolutely out of it. "I-I didn't know what I was thinking. I just saw you get attacked and I just lost control."

"That's fine, but just don't lose control on me again," I told him as I helped him up.

"What the fuck happened?" he asked me. "All I remember is waiting for you at the docks, then getting pushed into the water. Next thing I knew, I was in some lab and then I woke up here."

After taking a moment to catch my breath, I then explained what went on. "You were cryogenically frozen in a lab for twelve years." Michael's eyes widened. "Once you broke out, we saw you on the roof of that building. We were trying to find you, but you suddenly disappeared." As I explained things to him, I was reminded of our initial conversations, explaining the war between the vampires and Lycans while driving him to a safehouse. Seeing Michael lose control of his powers and his confusion made me feel like our relationship almost reverted back to square one.

"'We'?"

"We have an allied vampire named David, and your daughter, Eve," I filled in the remaining gaps.

Realizing that he is a now a father made him even more dumbfounded. "Oh my god." He smiled, but I couldn't tell if he was feeling happy or stressed at the news. "That's...that's wonderful. Where is she?"

"I told her and David to stay at a safehouse," I explained. "We should head there and lay low for now."

Michael looked back at the man that he had slain, then looked back at me remorsefully. "I'm sorry about what happened to that guy there." He sounded absolutely honest in his apology as if he feared that our bond was falling apart. "Just being frozen for so long and waking up like this..."

Michael paused for a bit to catch his breath, before I told him, "It's not your fault." Though I was initially appalled at Michael's behavior, I was quick to realize the circumstances that surrounded his actions. I've done such an act after being frozen myself, going on a relentless killing spree to find him.

For the first time in twelve years, I held Michael in my arms. As the sun truly started to rise, I was reminded of when we were at William Corvinus's prison. Seeing myself exposed to the sunlight for the first time in six centuries without burning; the kisses we shared on the bridge. It was at that time when I realized how much we needed each other in this endless war we were still caught in. Now that we had a daughter, Eve, and an ally, David, this realization was further reinforced.

Suddenly, my earpiece transmitted a message from David. "Selene, are you there? We haven't heard from you in the last five hours."

I transmitted the following message back. "Eve, David, I've found Michael. We're at some part of woods, hopefully not so far from where you are at. We're heading back to your location."

"Take care, Mother," Eve said. "I'm excited to see Father for the first time."

Michael overheard our conversation, then spoke to the microphone, "Hope to see you too, my daughter."

"Listen," I said. "There are some things I just need to tell you. I'll explain when I get to the safehouse."

* * *

_Eve's POV_

I was ecstatic to hear Father's voice for the first time. Even though the transmission was slightly distorted, I knew from the tone that he seemed delighted to hear that I'm his daughter, albeit quite nervous like a fan seeing a famous rock artist of his favorite band in person.

Things are really going in the right direction. Still, Mother seemed a bit uneasy despite finding my father. Something else was stressing her out.

* * *

**A/N: I appreciate some comments and concerns and I hope you get at least a bit of enjoyment in this fic!**


	3. Ephemeral

_"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." - __Friedrich Nietzsche _

_Chapter 3: Ephemeral  
October 2nd, 2024, 7:37 AM  
Rosethorn Trails  
Mathieu's POV_

Subject 1's sudden reappearance on the radar led us to Rosethorn Trails, a woodland area twelve miles North from Budapest. There's a large set of trails that extend into Slovakia and Poland before ending on the Baltic Sea.

According to the last satellite feed, Subject 1 was also accompanied by Subject 0, who also reappeared in this location.

"I know this place well," Reaper told me. "Four years ago, before you served as my second-in-command, I was sent here with former SIAF Lieutenant Jax "Kingmaker" McKellan to capture a group of Lycans that escaped from both the law and Antigen. They were last seen here in Rosethorn Trails and we patrolled here to find any leads on them, especially considering that the leader of the pack was a very key member." He paused. "We never captured even one Lycan. Still, rumor has it that they are still around the area."

"Perhaps you will get them one day," I chuckled.

"But there was one thing that really bothered me," Reaper said in an ironically stoic tone. "I blacked out during the mission and the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital."

"And Kingmaker?"

"I don't know," Reaper replied. "I've never seen him since the mission; he was later declared MIA. He might be either dead or even with the Lycans by now."

Reaper seemed unusually calm for bringing up such a pretty fucked up story. I know that he was a very experienced soldier, but even to some of my closest friends, I would feel uncomfortable and emotional telling about my own tragic past on how my brother was executed in front of my eyes. Reaper though, he was damn near as stoic, even cold-sounding as a text-to-speech voice from a computer.

Almost as cold as a vampire.

Though I was with a different SIAF squad when Reaper was on his mission, I felt like I was going to end up like Kingmaker. "You shouldn't worry," Reaper said, trying his hardest to keep himself from freaking out. "We're SIAF soldiers and what happened was out of character for us."

"Looks like we're near Subjects 1 and 0," I reported, trying to calm my own nerves.

"Copy that. Musician, switch your cloak to invisible mode."

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"By the way, Michael, what happened when you were on the roof of Antigen's headquarters?" I asked as we walked back towards the city. Since the last time Eve, David, and I saw Michael was at the rooftops and knowing that he woke up in the woods, I had a hunch that he could have seen that vision I saw.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure," Michael said, scratching his head. "But I do remember seeing some shady guy throw some black gas at me. Next thing I knew, I woke up here."

At that point, I knew that what he saw, and what I saw, was not just a hallucination from the stress of finding Michael at the time. I wanted to further confirm another thing. "Did you see a vision when that...that thing attacked you?"

"Yeah, a nightmare that the city was burning. It felt too real to be a dream."

"That's the exact vision that I saw," I told him. "When I was trying to find you, I saw that figure on top of the rooftop of the Antigen building. I saw that vision of a nuked Budapest and I woke up where I found you."

"Jesus Christ," Michael whispered to himself. "We get frozen twelve years in a world where humans want our heads, then we're seeing fucked up visions from that shadowy guy. This war has definitely escalated, hasn't it?"

I'd hate to admit it, but it is true. Humans have demonstrated great destruction over the years; the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, the significance WMDs during the Cold War; I'd hate to see the humans destroy the world to wipe all immortals out. "I hope not to such a scope," I said, dreading that moment.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

This forest played a significant role in Reaper's previous mission and it was now playing such a role in ours.

"There was something I failed to mention to you earlier," Reaper said, observing the conversation we overheard between the two. "That Lycan pack at Rosethorn was never seen breaking out from Antigen or escaping from Budapest. Now I know how they were found. They probably were the ones that saw that vision, probably the same one the two Subjects had, and teleported here."

I started to worry more about this location. "D-did you see these visions?"

"Like I said, my memory went blank the further we travelled into the forest," Reaper replied. "Just don't worry about what happened to me then and focus on the two. They're obviously leaving this area anyway."

If I was Reaper, I would never head to this place ever again after hearing that he went through. He, however, was hardly bothered at all. I've known him for most of my career as a SIAF soldier as a calm, direct, and uncompromising soldier. I don't know if under the stoic exterior that he was bottling so much trauma inside, but I felt like something else was going on for him.

After seeing the two immortals leave Rosethorn Trails, I just wanted to leave this damn place and continue keeping the immortals in check.

* * *

_8:20 AM  
Vampire Safehouse  
Eve's POV_

"You've been quiet since you woke up," David told me.

"I'm fine," I said. "My mother has been quite tense, lately. Even after finding Father."

David sat down alongside me. "Your mother is a brave woman," he assured me. "I look up to her more than my own father. She's gone through a lot and I'm sure things will be alright."

"That's the thing, though. I feel like all of her experiences are starting to wear her down," I argued. "I'm sure Mother could take on the toughest immortal in the world. She's stoic, but inside...I just can't imagine what she's going through right now."

A moment later, Mother returned to the safehouse with an unforced smile that she rarely put on. "I want you two to meet a person that I've known for a while," she announced as another person walked behind my mother. He was a man of lengthy, dirty blonde hair, and an athletic build. Although looking somewhat clueless, his blue eyes exactly matched mine. "This is Michael Corvin. And Michael," Mother pointed towards me for my father, "this is your daughter, Eve."

"Dad?" I said quietly towards him. After a brief moment of looking at each other, Michael, my father, walked towards me and placed his left hand on my shoulder.

"That's right," he said to me, smiling, though I could tell that he was nervous seeing his own daughter for the very first time. "If only we had met you a lot sooner," he told me, tearing up. "The things we could have done if your mom and I got captured."

"You don't have to worry," I ensured as I hugged him. "At least you and Mother are here for me right now."

This was a moment that I truly cherished. To see my family get together for the very first time ever created a sense of warmth around one another in an otherwise bleak world where everyone wanted us dead. I knew that the moment would not last forever, but I never felt so happy in my life.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

It was a warm experience seeing Michael again, and it was very much so when our family was finally united. Though the moment was very ephemeral (especially as immortals), it is something that will hold a special place in my heart for a long time, possibly forever.

Even though we only met for a little over a day, Eve's attitude was much brighter than when I had first met her. I could hardly imagine how she, being born and raised as a test subject for twelve years, felt seeing everyone together. Though I know that there will be threats in our way soon, the moment further motivated us to protect Eve and fight this endless war together.

It was odd, but I even felt optimistic to see the war end soon. At the same time, however, I had the feeling that the war would further escalate after seeing such destructive visions last night. We've been through it before; Viktor's attempt to lead us astray, Marcus's goal to dominate the war with William, being separated by the humans for twelve years...Now that we are together with David as an ally, I felt pretty confident.


	4. Checkmate is Coming

**A/N: Hey! Sorry about the wait. Admittedly didn't have the feeling at the time (and work and school eating up my free time), but I had a pretty good jolt of creativity over Christmas Break. Hope you all had a good 2014!**

_Chapter 4: Checkmate is Coming  
October 2nd, 2024, 5:44 PM  
Selene's POV_

_...Teenager tests positive for Lycanthropy; taken to Antigen for experimentation..._

_...Manhunt for the three escaped Antigen subjects continues..._

_...United States has spent $21 trillion on the War on Immortal Terrorism..._

_...Hungary to declare November 17th Immortal Contagion Awareness Day..._

It's been almost eleven hours since we found Michael. Our family has been laying low, avoiding contact with humans as our kind did before they were involved in this war. David returned to his father's coven to help relocate them to another location after the Lycans had destroyed it two days ago.

_...Russia to test experimental I-Bomb; death-row immortal prisoners to be executed in the area..._

I needed to keep up to speed on what had went on in the twelve years that I had been frozen. I spent pretty much the whole day reading news articles from 2012 to 2024 like a citizen living in fear after 9/11.

_...College club waves signs, promoting co-existence between immortals and humans..._

_...Doesn't using the I-Bomb spell genocide?..._

One thing's for sure is that though humanity has been at war with us immortals, there were some humans, such as Detective Alan Sebastian, that showed their support for us; at least for those such as us that don't have aggressive or vengeful intentions against them. His life had changed since he found out that his wife was a vampire and having the world purge millions, some of them happening to be innocent, was not the answer in his book.

_Checkmate is coming..._

* * *

_7:00 PM  
Mathieu's POV_

I've grown quite used to sleeping in the daytime; in fact, there are times where I just dislike the sunlight. In my dreams, I could see myself twelve years ago as an outsider, seeing my brother, Tim, and my younger self driving away from the city; the sight of these soldiers executing non-humans on the streets. I could remember Tim freaking out, having turned into a vampire. _I'm one of those fucking freaks!_ I never knew that my life would change in the blink of a fucking eye. _You should've just rammed the car through !_ I really wished I hadn't stopped when the military forces blockaded the freeway.

I'm glad that I'm in a task force that is centered on keeping order between the humans and the immortals rather than just massacring them like the Russians were about to do with that fucking I-Bomb.

"Sun's setting," Reaper told me as he looked through the window in our safehouse. "Time to get back to work."

At the same time, I felt insecure whether I would be jumped by either a vampire or a Lycan (a vampire mostly due to their weakness to sunlight) and needed to keep myself energetic throughout the night. I swallowed an energy pill and went out with Reaper.

I felt useless participating in this mission. All we had to do is study and keep tabs on the three test subjects. From stopping a nuclear bomb from going off, hell, probably even preventing an all out nuclear fucking war to this? It's not like anyone could join SIAF and keep an immortal in check; I feel like there is something else going on.

I KNOW something else is going on.

Reaper has been acting pretty frazzled after we visited Rosethorn Trails and remembering that mission where he and Kingmaker got fucked up six ways to Sunday.

As we made our way around the safehouse that the subjects were hiding in, I saw a shadow move across the streets of Budapest. "Hey, HEY!" I shouted. I did not know what I was thinking when I began to chase him, but I had a hunch that whatever I was chasing could lead to something significant, even if it was not related to our mission.

"Mathieu, stop!" Reaper shouted as he followed me, but I was so focused on chasing that figure, that anything I heard from Reaper became gibberish. Somehow, I had a sense that this figure was the same one that Subject 1 saw at the Antigen helicopter pad. It led me into a deserted building.

And I ran headlong inside.

The door behind me shut tight with a loud slam. _I knew this was a bad idea._

It was dead silent. Literally, I could hear nothing other than the sound of my footsteps.

_Mathieu?_ That voice felt all too familiar. _Is that you? Brother?_

"Tim?" I said.

_Mathieu?_ Logically, I could not fathom how my brother could survive literally going down in flames. I knew that no matter if you are immortal or not, even with the Corvinus strain, you are dead. Somehow, though, I really did believe that this was Tim and hardly thought that it was a trick.

I followed his voice without a second thought, and I was dumbfounded at the person I saw. "Tim, it really is you-" I shouted, running towards him wanted to hug him, but suddenly, he grabbed my shoulder firmly.

"Checkmate is coming," he said with a hoarse whisper. The darkness suddenly shattered like glass to see Budapest in flames and crumbling. This matches the description of what Selene must have seen. "What the fuck?" Of all the times that I've said that, this was the most profound moment. Tim had disappeared the next time I tried to look at him.

I dropped to the ground with a very dry coughing fit, vomiting blood. I've been wounded to the point where I could have died in several circumstances without others' help. I never had such a dying feeling as I was at that moment.

And then I saw Him. The one that turned my brother into a vampire. He looked just as I remembered him to be; the greasy hair, the torn clothing, and the menacing look on his face. "You," I shouted as I pointed my XM8 at him. "I'll fucking kill you, you fucking bastard!"

I emptied the entire thirty-round magazine into him before he disappeared in a black fog. Blackness shrouded my eyes. And I felt like I had just died.

* * *

_7:17 PM  
Selene's POV_

I decided to visit Detective Sebastian to see if he knew anything about Rosethorn Trails, particularly the visions Michael and I had seen yesterday. Observing from a tree, I spotted him smoking a cigarette near his car parked to a police station. Just as I was about to jump down, I spotted three skinny Lycans in the woods ready to ambush him. I assumed they wanted him dead for his involvement in the Antigen incident. As the Lycans sprouted in for the kill, I swiftly roundhouse kicked one of them in the side; the impact sending him colliding with the other two Lycans.

"Not a really good idea to stand in the open at night, didn't you think?" I teased at Sebastian. As the three Lycans recovered, they centered their headlong attacks towards me. _Bad move._ As the closest Lycan attempted to tackle me, I grabbed him by the neck, then snapped it. Then I used the lifeless body, knocking one of the Lycans hard onto the pavement. The final Lycan inched away from me, knowing he could not stand a chance against an experience Death Dealer; let alone someone who has inherited the Corvinus strain. I used my index and middle fingers to gesture him to come at me.

I had to admit, I had that rush when I was in confrontation with my enemies. Knowing that there were only three Lycans that I knew I could take on with ease, I almost felt egotistical in the fight. I was quite literally trying to play with that Lycan. At the same time, I was aware enough not to let my guard down in such a situation. Even the most powerful of immortals can be taken out by a weakling once a flaw is exploited. Viktor fell without acknowledging that his adoptive daughter would rebel against him.

The Lycan shifted back into human form. "Checkmate is coming," he said in a chilling tone that quite literally froze me before retreating into the shadows. _Checkmate is coming?_ I remembered an article online that had said that same seemed like a simple threat to scare me, but what the hell did he mean by that? Never had an immortal speak something like this.

"Selene," Sebastian said, breaking my train of thought. "Selene!"

"Sorry," I said. "Was just thinking about what just happened."

"While you were thinking, that Lycan tried to slaughter you!" Sebastian stated. "I had to put him down myself before he got his paws on you."

Did I really just stand there like a total idiot when that Lycan was about to attack? "No way," I denied. "He told me that 'checkmate is coming' and fled."

"Well that's not what happened," Sebastian countered.

Perhaps I'm starting to lose myself. I'm pretty much on that road when you have shadowy figures showing visions of the apocalypse, waking up in a sketchy forest, and standing catatonically seeing things that did not happen I'm starting to notice that whatever or whoever is at power is trying to break me psychologically rather than fighting. "I just wanted to talk about a couple of things," I told Sebastian.

"I could tell," Sebastian said as we got into his car. "You seemed really agitated, scared, and tired." He started the car and began driving to his apartment. "A complete 360 from when you were confronting them," he added.

"I know, I know," I said, evidently more annoyed than usual. "Had you and anyone you know have visions of this city on fire?" I asked.

"That's...particularly specific," Sebastian commented. "But I don't recall."

"Do you at least know anything about a place called Rosethorn Trails?" I added. "While I was trying to find Michael, I saw a vision of Budapest being destroyed by a nuclear explosion. I woke up in Rosethorn Trails and found Michael here. He had those visions as well."

"Actually, I have a couple of files about that area," Sebastian said.

* * *

_7:30 PM  
Sebastian's Office_

"I used to be an informant for a bunch of special operations forces called the Special Immortal Activities Forces, or SIAF for short," Sebastian informed as he handed me a dossier on a case file. "Four years ago, a group of Lycans had escaped from Antigen and SIAF was tasked to re-capture them. In particular, one of them happened to be a very important figure. The last time that the Lycans were spotted was in Rosethorn Trails. Unfortunately, SIAF had to declare Mission Failed after one of the operatives went MIA and the other ending up hospitalized with a severe concussion."

"Why was Antigen hunting down Lycans when they were actually a Lycan corporation to begin with?" I asked him.

"I don't know," Sebastian replied. "I still have a feeling that some Lycans were rebelling against their kind. The government was still hunting them around the time."

" I'm still not good with feelings," I recounted as I did my first encounter with Sebastian. "But they're my only lead so far at this point. Do you have anything on Rosethorn besides this dossier?"

"It's all I've got on Rosethorn," Sebastian responded. "But what you just reported could reignite the case with the missing Lycans, since they were rumored to still be there."

"I guess my next destination will be that trail," I said.

"And on a personal note," Sebastian continued. "You should try to take care of yourself. Personally, I would discourage you from going there since you do look burnt out. I'm pretty sure Eve or Michael are concerned for you as well after what you are going through."

"I'll be fine," I said, putting on a false smile as I left.

Perhaps Sebastian was right. I've been so focused on what was happening to me, anticipating something to happen that relates to what happened, that it was straining me. I also felt distant from Eve and Michael after that short feeling of warmth when our family was finally united. I want to feel at ease, but I was still curious about what the hell was happening. With little to no information, it was almost I could think about.


	5. The Dossier

_Chapter 5: The Dossier  
October 2nd, 2024, 11:15 PM  
Selene's POV_

I'm documenting the contents of the dossier that Sebastian gave me before I make my way to Rosethorn. Though I know a little more on the place from my talk with Sebastian, I hoped to find more information on the place via the files.

* * *

The first document is a blacklist of the Lycans that had escaped capture.

_Antigen Blacklist  
Wanted for: [REDACTED]  
Date of escape: September 4th, 2020  
Date of capture: N/A  
[REAL NAME REDACTED] "Ulv" (Note: VITAL TARGET)  
[REAL NAME REDACTED] "Writer" (Note: STRONG TIES WITH ULV)  
[REAL NAME REDACTED] "Sandman"  
[REAL NAME REDACTED] "Plaguewielder"_

The names listed have been redacted with a black marker with a codename scribbled beside it for each of those that have been redacted. In particular, there was one who was named, "Ulv (Norwegian for wolf)," who was apparently marked as a very vital person to Antigen. I'm not sure why Antigen was hunting those Lycans when the Lycans were running the organization; probably to divert suspicion at the time?

Or perhaps anything that had to do with Rosethorn Trails? I know I'm not the only one that's been following the phenomenon.

* * *

The second group of documents are the profiles of the two SIAF operatives that participated in "Operation: Paris," the one that ended in failure with one SIAF member missing.

_1\. Name (Last, First, MI): Garza, Larry H.  
2\. Callsign: Reaper  
3\. Birth Date (Month, Day, Year): June 6th, 1985  
4\. Enlistment Date (Month, Day, Year): June 10th, 2014  
5\. Service No: [REDACTED]  
6\. Origin: California, United States  
7\. Previous Service: U.S. Marine Corps. (2003-2007), U.S. Navy Seals (2007-2014)  
8\. Education: Homeschooled  
9\. Criminal Convictions: None  
10\. Blood Type: O-  
11\. Eye Color: Brown  
12\. Weight: 200 lbs  
13\. Height: 6'2"_

_1\. Name (Last, First, MI): McKellan, Jax R.  
2\. Callsign: Kingmaker  
3\. Birth Date (Month, Day, Year): December 27th, 1990  
4\. Enlistment Date (Month, Day, Year): August 22nd, 2017  
5\. Service No: [REDACTED]  
6\. Origin: Arizona, United States  
7\. Previous Service: U.S. Marine Corps. (2008-2017)  
8\. Education: [REDACTED]  
9\. Criminal Convictions: None  
10\. Blood Type: AB+  
11\. Eye Color: Blue  
12\. Weight: 188 lbs  
13: Height: 6'1"_

Both operatives have a picture of their faces clipped onto their profile sheets with paperclips. "Reaper" appeared to have a wide face (assuming he has a heavier build with his weight) and a mohawk. Kingmaker's picture is completely blacked out; I'm assuming it had to do with his disappearance during the mission, which I will touch on next.

* * *

The next document is a debriefing of Operation: Paris.

_Larry Garza was discharged from the Budapest University Hospital on October 5th, 2020. He was found unconscious at Rosethorn Trails on September 15th by an unknown pedestrian and taken to the aforementioned hospital, where he lay in a comatose state for thirteen days. He woke up on September 28th with no memory of what had caused him to be comatose. Diagnosed with retrograde amnesia; cause unknown as no signs of trauma were located anywhere on his body at the time._

_Jax McKellan was missing in action during the search for the missing Lycans at Rosethorn Trails. SIAF has launched a search party consisting of Mathieu "Musician" Walker, Jay "Firebird" Wright, and Benjamin "Hiver" Page has been deployed to search for McKellan. As of October 20th, 2020, McKellan's whereabouts remain unknown. If there remains no trace of McKellan by November 10th, 2020, the search will be called off._

_The Lycan pack remains at large. There is a chance that McKellan has been captured by the Lycans. However, it is unknown if the Lycans have ventured beyond Rosethorn Trails._

There were others besides Reaper, Kingmaker, and the Lycans that have ventured into Rosethorn Trails. There is no information on what happened to the other three SIAF operatives, Musician, Firebird, and Hiver.

* * *

The last document is a biography of Ulv.

_Name: [REDACTED]  
Codename: Ulv  
Birthdate: Unknown  
Wanted for: [REDACTED]  
Importance: 10 (on a scale of 10 being the most important)  
Species: Lycan (Corvinus Strain)_

_Once a mighty leader of the Lycans during the war against the vampires, Ulv spent many years in hiding, wanting to blend both species of vampire and Lycan to form a hybrid that is stronger than both. He was thought to be murdered by [NAME REDACTED], but was last seen escaping [LOCATION REDACTED], several months before the Purge began._

It is almost painfully obvious that this "Ulv" is Lucian. Prior to getting "killed" by Kraven, he must have inherited the Corvinus Strain through Michael and faked his death. The rest of the document is redacted, leaving the reasons Antigen took him prisoner unknown.

I'm getting closer and closer to knowing the mystery behind Rosethorn Trails. I am about to go there soon with Michael; I contemplated going alone out of fear that something would happen to my family, but felt it is too dangerous if I am to fight Lucian's Lycan pack by myself. Assuming that he may have given other Lycans the Corvinus strain, going in as a group would be a better idea.

**A/N: I know, this chapter is considerably shorter (907 words, whereas other chapters average at 2,000) and uneventful compared to the others, but I hope it's a good reference point for the next coming chapters. **


	6. How Darkness Keeps Us Together

_Chapter 6: How Darkness Keeps Us Together  
__October 3rd, 2024, 12:30 AM  
Michael's POV  
_

_I was on the roof of the Antigen building and I saw Budapest, once again, engulfed by the nuclear explosion. It must be a simple dream, but why did I have that dying sensation? Not since Marcus tried to kill me did I ever feel so close to death; probably even more so than when he had wounded me. _

_I saw that hooded figure, carrying a bloodied and lifeless Selene in his arms. I took a closer look at him and saw that his irises were blood red and the only thing glowing as his face was silhouetted by his hood. "Checkmate is coming," the hooded figure said as he and Selene disappeared into a black mist that enveloped my vision._

I woke up in a panicked mood; cold sweat covering my face. I was thankfully still at the safehouse with Eve and David and not that fucking trail. I got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to start washing my face. When I looked into the mirror, though, the irises in my eyes were red; the same color as that guy in the visions that I've had. But the next time I blinked, they returned to their normal, blue color. "What's the fuck's going on with me?" I said to myself.

There was something that I had failed to mention before. I've had that vision previously when I later woke up at Rosethorn Trails. Seeing Selene dead in that guy's arms, it made me freak out the moment I woke up. When I did find Selene at gunpoint by that human, I lost control of myself. After I had killed that human, I was so out of it that I blindly attacked Selene before she subdued me.

I looked at my reflection for about fifteen minutes, partially shifting into hybrid form and back again as my eyes went from blue to black, waiting for a random chance that my irises will turn red.

"Dad?" Eve's voice behind me broke me out of my trance. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," I told Eve as I crouched down to look her in the eyes. "Dad's just a little...stressed, that's all."

"I saw a couple of visions from your eyes," Eve said, a little bit worrisome as she was when Selene had been out for longer than we had anticipated. "That nightmare you had and those red eyes you saw in the mirror."

At that point, I knew that the red iris I saw myself having was real, not just my mind that was fucking with me. "I mean, it's just that since I woke up from Antigen, I've just been a little out of it. But I'll be fine. Just trust me."

"Do you want to find Mom with me?" Eve asked me. "She forgot to bring her cell phone, she has been out later than I had anticipated, and I haven't seen any visions from her. Honestly, I'm very worried about her, and seeing that guy in your dreams holding Mom...I feel like we need to find her."

Seeing her dead in that dream, I was dreading that would happen. "Well, no progress will be made if we just keep sitting here. We should try."

Just as I walked out of the bathroom, I heard the door unlock and open.

"Selene!" I called me as Eve and I ran to hug her.

"We were worried that you weren't going to come back," Eve added. "You forgot to bring your phone, so we were just about to try to find you."

"Sorry that I've been out for a bit too long," Selene apologized. "I was so focused on a couple of things regarding Rosethorn Trails that my mind's been messing with me. At least you don't have to stress out the way I did when trying to find you, Michael."

David stood up from the office chair. "So, has Sebastian given any information about that park that you and Michael found yourselves in?" he asked.

Selene tossed a dossier on a round table. "It's not much, but it's enough to get an idea about the events of Rosethorn."

David spread the documents on the table for our family to see. "Looks like some mystery story," he commented as he read through the papers.

"And we're the ones that are going to solve it," Selene said. "As I read through these documents, I found out that Lucian is still alive and according to his profile, he has inherited the Corvinus strain."

All of a sudden, flashbacks of my encounters with Lucian started to play out like a movie playing in my head. I could remember escaping from my apartment only to encounter Lucian. _Hello_ _Michael, _I remembered him saying. I could remember him biting into my shoulder, feeling that burning pain as he transmitted his Lycan virus inside me. Then I saw some of Lucian's most painful memories through the blood memories I inherited. I saw Lucian cry out in helpless anguish as he saw Sonja burn to death in the sun. I then flashed back to when I was laying on the ground, dying from the silver nitrate bullets Kraven had shot into me. _Bite him._

But then, I saw a new vision that I did not remember until now. I was barely conscious and I could only vaguely make out the scenery other than vague shades of green, yellow, red, and brown and a long-haired, bearded man looking over me. "In war, darkness is ever-present in its soldiers," I heard him say, albeit very distantly. "Do not let it consume you, Michael. Use it as a weapon."

"Dad?" Eve once again broke me from my trance.

"It's nothing," I tried to lie.

"Are you sure?" Selene asked me.

"I-It's just that when you mentioned Lucian, I saw a vision of him just now," I explained. "He said something about using darkness as a weapon. I felt like I was at Rosethorn Trails at the time, so I'm assuming I saw him around yesterday."

"It seems like the visions that we've been seeing are calling us to Rosethorn," Selene observed.

"It could be a trap," David said. "After all, we're following a Lycan that carries the Corvinus strain. He could probably have spread it to other Lycans."

"Whatever power is surrounding Rosethorn seems much stronger than just a war between vampires and Lycans," Selene argued. "When dawn breaks, I'm planning on heading to that place to find out what's been going on."

* * *

_12:45 AM  
Rosethorn Trails  
Reaper's POV  
_

I knew that when Mathieu went missing, he would end up being taken to Rosethorn Trails. _That guy's gonna end up like Kingmaker if he's not careful._ I haven't noticed until recently, but after constantly keeping tabs on the escaped subjects, I started to ruminate over the mission where I got really fucked up four years ago. Likewise, I noticed that Mathieu had been dwelling more on the death of his older brother. After twelve years, Mathieu still thinks of Tim and to see him chase that figure in the streets seemed to escalate his mood.

While venturing onto the trail, I couldn't help but feel like I'm walking on a pathway that was endless. The area was silent other than the sounds of wind and falling leaves. I tried to break the silence several times, calling "Musician!" or Mathieu!" Every time I tried, I heard no response or action.

_"The Lycans should not be so far off this point," Kingmaker told me as we continued walking the trail._

Flashbacks of the mission started to appear much more frequently as I trudged through Rosethorn Trails, trying to find Mathieu. My radio was being jammed by the heavy signal interference and my tablet lost connection to the satellites.

_"The Lycan's running!" Kingmaker shouted as we gave chase._

_"Antigen wants the pack alive!" I reminded Kingmaker. "Use non-silver ammunition!"_

All of a sudden, I found myself back at the Rosethorn parking lot. I swore I was walking straight the whole time. "How the fuck did I get back here?" I said to myself. Suddenly, the night grew darker and darker.

_"Reaper! Reaper-AAAGH!" I saw Kingmaker get dragged into the shadows. _

_"No! Kingmaker!" I shouted until something got a hold of me as well._

* * *

_5:50 AM  
Safehouse Armory  
Selene's POV_

I started to load up on weaponry and ammunition for the mission to Rosethorn. In addition to the Beretta 92FS and the Walther P99 pistols that I had used throughout my life, I carried a M4A1 equipped with a EOTech Holographic sight for medium-long range combat. Though I know for sure that Lycans are roaming Rosethorn, I decided to load the initial clips of my firearms with bullets that carry _both_ ultraviolet and silver nitrate fluid in a single shell.

"You look like you can take an entire army of Lycans on your own," Michael commented on my arsenal.

I smiled. "I know that we're probably going to face an unknown amount of resistance. There could be much more than just the four Lycans listed on that dossier, so we should prepare for anything."

"I'm pretty sure that since Lucian could be out there, you might need me to tag along," Michael suggested.

"And I know you want answers too," I noted.

Eve and David walked into the armory. "We've been thinking that you might need our help," David suggested.

"Thanks, but I think it's best if Eve stayed at the safehouse with you," I recommended.

"You said it yourself; you're not sure what exactly you're putting yourself against," Eve argued.

"I'm just worried that by some circumstance, something will happen to you," I expressed. It felt really difficult trying to parent Eve when she was playing a strong role in the war. Knowing what Antigen had put her through, I did not want anyone to hurt her the way Antigen did. I grew especially worrisome considering we didn't know if this venture would be like a day in the Death Dealer office or a suicide mission.

"And I'm personally worried about you two," Eve said. "The things that you two were going through lately, I feel like you two are going to going to be reckless."

"She's right," David said. "I've known you two to be very powerful immortals, yet to see you two feeling anxious, we're more worried about you than ourselves."

I could tell from Eve's eyes that she wanted us to take care on our mission. Even though she is young, she has proven to be very formidable during her fight with Jacob Lane. "Take as much equipment as you can from the armory," I told her and David.

* * *

_6:20 AM_  
_Mathieu's POV_

_Bloody hell,_ I thought to myself as I regained consciousness. As I opened my eyes, I found myself surrounded by trees at dawn, laying in the middle of the trail. I was back in Rosethorn Trails. _How the fuck did I get here? _

"Reaper," I tried to call through my radio, "are you there? Reaper?" All I heard was ambient static from my headpiece. Rosethorn must have a ton of signal interference, and that's saying a lot considering our radios have bigger range than most military ones. _I've gotta get back to Budapest. What the fuck is going on?_

* * *

_Rosethorn Trails, 6:22 AM  
Michael's POV_

"You ready, Michael?" Selene asked me as our family got out of the car.

"As I'll ever be," I replied.

"Eve, David, you two should stick by the river while Michael and I take the main path," Selene recommended, putting an earpiece mic on her left ear. "It follows the trail pretty well and it's a good chance for a sneak attack in case anyone tries to attack us."

Even more so than when I found myself here yesterday, I felt a great chill crawl into my spine as we walked the trail. I started to breathe like I had just run a marathon (or perhaps, in the case of an immortal, a hundred of them). I saw my nails shift from being clean cut and short, to sharp and long at an inconsistent pace. I don't know exactly why I should be afraid; is it the fact that I've woken up here after seeing a very vivid nightmare, the Lycan pack (and knowing that Lucian could be with them), or perhaps something of the unknown?

"Are you alright, Michael?" Selene said to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, shivering. I was NOT fine. I was scared, even more so than I usually am in situations like these. I wanted to just leave this place right away, but I know that Selene wanted to know more about this place. _Come on, Michael! You and Selene have taken out William and Marcus Corvinus; some of the most powerful immortals out there!_

As we continue walking, I noticed from the distance a soldier walking towards us. From what I saw, he bore long, dark brown hair that went to his shoulders. He was wearing a dense, layered piece of black armor that covered his body except for parts of his limbs for flexibility and his head.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

_Shit! _I ran as quick as I could down a slope into a river. I took a moment to catch my breath and switched my cloak to invisibility mode. _That was fucking clumsy for a SIAF operative! I'm supposed to be better than this! Of all of the operations, what the fuck's wrong with me! And why am I feeling so uneasy? _

The two escaped subjects walked towards the river. "Are you sure that you saw someone?" Subject 1 asked her partner.

"I saw what I saw," Subject 0 answered in a distressed tone. "He dashed down that creek."

"I don't see him now," Subject 1 said. The two seemed to shrug it off as nothing and left to return to the trail. I breathed a sigh of relief and walked my way back to land. I turned my head and saw Subject 1 pointing her Beretta pistol inches from my head. "But sometimes, you don't have to see a threat when you know he's there," she said.

She could see through my invisibility cloak. Knowing that I'm dealing with immortals that carry the Corvinus strain and my botched attempt at evading them, I was not surprised that I would get caught. I turned off my invisibility cloak and told her, "I'm not here to fuck with you," I told her as I put my XM8 on the ground and put my hands near my head. "Just let me go."

"Who are you?" Subject 0 asked me as he, Subject 2, and one of their allies surround me.

I was hesitant to reveal anything about my position in SIAF and my operation here, especially when surrounded by the most powerful immortals. Our organization is only known to our allied governments and those deemed trustworthy; to mention any obvious things about my mission could compromise SIAF. "I'm just some guy wandering the place in the morning," I tried to lie, but I knew they wouldn't buy it.

"With an assault rifle and military clothing," Subject 1 sarcastically mocked at me. She looked at the badge on my right arm and told me, "I know you're a member of SIAF. I just want to know who you are and what you're doing here."

"I guess the jig is up at this point," I nervously chuckled. "Fine. I'm Mathieu Walker. I'm just here to check out this area, as I hear that several Lycans are in this area." I did not want to say anything about our objective, which was to follow the escaped subjects and find out their motives. I'm pretty sure that the two would tear me to shreds if they knew we were following them for a day and a half.

"You knew about the Lycans?" The allied vampire asked me. "Are they the same ones that escaped Antigen and took refuge here?"

They knew about the previous mission Reaper and Kingmaker had participated in. "I'm not sure. It's just...a hunch from command," I said hesitantly. "And they sent us here to investigate. I think it's pure bollocks if you ask me," I tried to laugh.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

I looked at Mathieu directly in the eyes and despite his hesitance to reveal the reasons why he is here, he seemed like someone that would never hurt a fly. But knowing that SIAF participated in the mission to find the Lycan pack and knowing that Mathieu (and perhaps other SIAF members) have returned to the area four years later, I wanted to ask him one particular question. "So, you're Mathieu Valentine; also known as Musician? I read that you tried to find one of your operatives, Kingmaker, four years ago. Do you know about your mission at that time?" I asked him.

Mathieu had a very puzzled look on his face. "What?" he said. "I don't remember trying to rescue Kingmaker. In fact, I've never had any participation in that mission at all."

He seemed honestly confused and less secretive. "Are you sure?" I wanted him to confirm.

"Yes," Mathieu replied.

I wanted to trust his intuition, but I needed to confirm if he is truly trustworthy. "Roll your sleeve," I told him.

"What?"

"Just do it." I readied a small knife as Mathieu began to reveal his wrist.

"What are you-?" Mathieu said,

"Just trust me," I said. I lightly cut Mathieu's wrist open, then proceeded to drink his blood to transmit his memories into my own.

_Fuck! No! Tim! _I saw how his older brother, Tim, who was turned into a vampire, died when Mathieu was sixteen.

I saw his time in the Special Air Service as well as when he transferred to SIAF. In particular, I could recognize his intentions of joining SIAF in his entrance interview. _"It's not in my blood to start killing vampires and Lycans that have no malicious intentions,"_ I heard Mathieu say. "_Ever since my brother died, I just wish that in this war we have waged against the immortals, that we could one day work our differences to co-exist with one another. It seems unlikely because of the animosity we have against each other, but is animosity a good path for life to take?"_

_"Reaper, Mathieu, you have new orders," _I heard Mathieu's general, Albert Fisher, say over his earpiece. _"You are to track down and follow the three test subjects that had just escaped from Antigen. You are not permitted in using hostile force unless the subjects in mind conspire to considerably harm humanity. Likewise, you should not attract any attention from them or your mission will be compromised."_

_I'll fucking kill you, you fucking bastard!_ Like Michael and I, he also had these visions of a burning Budapest and had woken up merely thirty minutes before we met him.

Indeed, Mathieu seemed to have no memory of trying to search for Kingmaker or anything about Rosethorn Trails until recently. But he was lying about his true objective.

Mathieu looked at his wound after I had gained the blood memories from him. "What was that all about?" he asked me.

"Through your blood, I now know that you were sent to follow us," I told Mathieu. "I just want to know why your general wanted you to do so."

"Fear that you guys would greatly harm humanity," Mathieu explained. "We've had missions where immortals pretty much tried to end the fucking world before the average bloke knew it. When we found out that you guys murdered Jacob Lane, and knowing that you are much stronger with the Corvinus strain, that you would be deemed a potential danger."

"Before you guys got involved, the vampires and Lycans have been in war for over a millennia without the humans knowing of our existence," I explained. "We had no intentions of wanting to kill humans. After they found out about our kind, I was reminded of how dangerous you mortals can be." I stood back up and looked at the sky; the sun shrouded by the dark clouds. "I don't know our family can handle being in constant turmoil with both Lycans and the humans practically knocking on our doors every day."

Mathieu sighed. "I was ready to live the way you have been living," he told me; his tone being more gentle and sympathetic. "Having tried to escape with my brother when the Purge began...it's so fucking unfair. He would never hurt anyone, vampire or not..." Mathieu's eyes started to water. The death of his brother resonated with him for all of these years and seeing the damage that the mortals have done against the immortals, many of them without malicious intentions to begin with, it truly upsetted him.

Michael sat by Mathieu's left side. "I was once human like your brother was," he told him. "After becoming a hybrid, I've learned to accept what I had lost and what I had become. I had a new found purpose to be with Selene and my daughter, Eve, in their time of need. And I know you want to fight for what you feel is right."

"The thing is that I'm doubtful that we could find a solution when turmoil exists in both humans and immortals," Mathieu said pessimistically.

"I'm not sure how long this war will last," Michael responded. "But I always think of Selene and Eve and it makes me hope for better days to come."

"I'm grateful to be with my parents after being raised by Antigen when they were frozen," Eve said.

"I would have been nothing without them," I added to Mathieu. "Just an emotionless Death Dealer with the sole purpose for hunting down Lycans for a lost cause, had I never met Michael." I never thought I'd be giving a positive message towards someone I had just met, but Mathieu had a very good heart; his love for his brother was as strong as my love for my own family.

Mathieu started to smile. "Well, at least I am now allies with the most powerful immortals in the world," he chuckled.

"I feel like we should get back to the trail," I said. "I'll admit, though, it was a good break."

* * *

**A/N: I hope to update as frequently as possible as I've already mapped out how this arc will progress. Feel welcome to leave some feedback over what you've read so far!**


	7. Red Irises

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! College has been overwhelming me and, now that I'm on spring break, it was an opportunity to finish this chapter and plot out the next ones to come.**

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

The world has portrayed the immortals as savage, abominable beings, and we've been hunting them down, slaughtering them like wild animals. But are the humans any better in their savage actions? Though we live in a very sophisticated society, we've reduced ourselves to hate, violence, and genocide to invoke fear towards the immortals.

Immortals are obviously able to do more than a human, but they act just as a human does. When I looked into the eyes of Selene, Michael, Eve, and David, I was reminded of Tim yet again, as if his presence lurked around the four. I did not see the eyes of a monster when I saw Tim die. I saw a good man saddened by the gratuitous, inhumane loss of life that the humans have dealt. They are not the eyes of dangerous immortals. They have very good intentions and I felt like I could truly trust them. Perhaps, they could show trust in me, though I was a soldier trained for immortal espionage.

To me, they could make a difference in this brave new world that we've lived in.

* * *

_Chapter 7: Red Irises  
October 3rd, 2024, 6:50 AM  
Rosethorn Trails_

"So, what are you guys doing here?" I asked as I lit a cigarette. "I know that the two of you woke up the way I just did."

"There's an unknown evil that we've been seeing through visions," Selene explained. "I know you had one before waking up here."

"I thought someone drugged me and took me on a fucked up trip," I joked.

Selene chuckled. "That was not a drug trip. Whatever that Michael and I saw was telling us something and I want to find answers."

I thought of the vision that I had before waking up here. The thought of seeing that fucker that turned my brother into a vampire. Hearing Tim's voice as if he was there at the time. "I'm going with you guys," I said.

"Are you sure?" Michael questioned me. "You're still human and whatever that we're looking for could be very dangerous, even for us."

"Michael's right," David agreed. "You're too weak to fight whatever's out there."

"But I want to know some answers," I explained. "I want to know why I'm having these visions. Not only that, but I know that my squadmates embarked on a mission four years ago. I want to know what happened to them and what measures my faction should take to help you guys take this threat out." I looked at the nearby bridge on the trail that crossed the river. "I feel like whoever is showing these visions wants me to find the answers. I know it might be something I'm going to regret, but I feel like something is meant to happen."

Selene sighed. "It's your choice if you want to follow us. As long as you do not slow us down, it will be fine."

I smiled. "Well, if it wasn't for SIAF, World War III could have happened multiple times," I arrogantly stated. As we continued walking towards the trail with Eve and David trailing the river, I opened one of my pouches and grabbed an unopened syringe pen. _You're a potent motherfucker, but I might need you soon._

* * *

_Selene's POV_

I've contemplated turning Mathieu into one of us, but I did not want him to return, knowing that the whole world (possibly including his own faction) would automatically go out to try to kill him. Though his intentions are very good, I was still dubious on what he would do if he inherited the Corvinus Strain. He could might as well be masking his true intentions like a psychopath who would effortlessly pretend to be sane. It seemed like Mathieu did not want to be turned either.

I noticed that Mathieu was looking at his unused syringe. He had that contemplating look as he stared at it, almost as if he was relapsing from a past addiction. "What is that?"

"You'll see," he hinted.

* * *

_Unknown immortal woman's POV_

"Perfect," I said. "All of them are here."

"But one of them is still human," my second-in-command stated. "He won't stand a snowball's chance at fighting your forces."

"Well, he'll have to learn the hard way if he can stand up to Azazel. I'll make sure of it," I assured him.

"You've always been a daring woman, Aurora."

I chuckled, looking at the five traversing deeper into the woods with my red eyes. "And they are too." As they crossed the first of multiple bridges, I made a hand signal to my immortal warriors with my mechanical hand to ambush them.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

"Mathieu! Behind you!" Selene shouted, pulling me by my right arm away from the trail as an unknown assailant passed me with his dagger missing me by inches. The assailant then lunged at Selene at an almost blinding speed before Michael grabbed him in a full nelson and threw him into a tree. There, I had my first glance at Michael's hybrid form through my eyes. His appearance compared to his human form was almost day and night, seeing his blonde hair had become jet back and his skin turning gray. He became much more brutish; his face sporting a muzzle and his muscles becomes more defined. He took off his jacket and ripped off his white t-shirt so they would not snag around his arms. "Glad to have a scary man like you on our side," I smirked.

Two more assailants dashed from the trees at Michael before they were tackled by David and Eve; the latter of which has also transformed into her hybrid form. Though not as significant as Michael, it felt like I was staring at a completely different person. A shy, timid child in human form; but a feral, relentless creature in her immortal form.

And Selene. As she was fending off another attacker, I noticed the calm, collected nature she had. From her facial expressions, I did not see any feelings of anxiety, weakness, or aggravation of her emotions. In fact, it almost seemed like she enjoyed being in combat. Of course, having read that she was six-hundred and thirty-two years old, it was a natural talent. With the Corvinus strain flowing in her veins, it seemed even more so. I could not imagine what hell Reaper and I would go through if they were our enemies. In fact, I probably would not even be alive at the moment.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"These guys seem too easy to fight, don't you think?" David questioned.

"They were no stronger than the Lycans that attacked your coven," I told him as I unloaded extra bullets into the corpses to make sure they stay down. "Still, we need to keep our heads on our shoulders. I have a hunch that someone's toying with us."

But what felt truly off was Michael. He was easily the most agitated of the bunch, constantly scanning the area for any hostile immortals. Though we were playing defense, Michael seemed like he was going for the offensive in his crouched stance; it's almost as if he wants to hunt down whoever was attacking us. But what was really unsettling are the glowing red irises in Michael's eyes.

Michael noticed a Lycan charging at his position. Instantly, Michael dashed towards the attacker and gruesomely sliced him in half. Not even in his most desperate struggles have I ever seen him this relentless and aggressive. It was an entirely new feeling of unease around Michael. I was constantly fixated on Michael's red eyes.

"Selene, behind you!" Mathieu shouted before I felt a piece of metal pierce into my back and exiting through my chest. "You bastard!" Mathieu shouted, shooting several rounds from his XM8 into the hostile that was impaling me_._

"Mom!" Eve rushed towards my side as I removed the blade. "You're hurt!"

"It's nothing," I tried to assure her. "I'll live." Letting my guard down would have been the end of me had I never inherited Alexander's blood. Getting stabbed was practically just a mere annoyance at that point, but it was a sign that I needed to be very careful, especially during these dark times. Still, the sight of Michael's hybrid form was enough to race through my mind while we continued fighting the enemy.

A band of immortals swarmed us at all sides at once. "Shit!" David shouted, preparing his dagger for hand-to-hand combat with the assailants as they dispersed to take us on two-on-one. As I clashed daggers with two of the assailants, I realized how stronger the second wave of immortals were compared to the first. Together, their combined strength was comparable to Quint Lane.

That's when I noticed the red irises that our enemies possessed. That fucking iris. I had a feeling that what we were facing was a completely new case compared to the battles we've fought so far.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

I just sat there as I saw Selene and the others struggle against the enemy. I felt worthless, knowing that I'm the weakest link as a human; hell, even the enemy has ignored me, for they centered their focus on the rest of the group. But I want to help them. I took out an adrenaline pen, which contained a drug that temporarily enhances one's speed, healing, and senses approximately two time the average Lycan. _I might regret this, but fuck it! They're probably going to die and I have to do something!_ I stuck the needle in my arm and plunged the drug into my veins.

All of a sudden, I felt this strange feeling of euphoria. I felt like I could conquer the world any time I wanted to. Immediately after tossing the empty syringe, I ran towards the two immortals that were overwhelming Selene, laying a sucker punch in the face of one of them with my left fist, and then kicked the other in the chin. The hand-to-hand combat training paid off for this particular moment. "You thought I would slow you down?" I said to Selene, who smirked at me in return. That was my first use of synthetic adrenaline; it was even more powerful that I had expected, having used it myself. I was probably even stronger than Selene at that point.

I rushed towards Eve, slicing the head off one of the immortals with my knife, then kicking the other one into a tree. Then I rushed towards David's location, prepared to intervene in his losing fight.

Suddenly, I collapsed in that moment of pride, as my body was suffering from considerable strain. That was one of the drawbacks of using the adrenaline; like an energy drink, you get this boost in the short run, but you crash in the long run. In this case, after feeling the effects of using the synthetic adrenaline for about thirty seconds, my muscles started to strain from doing actions normally suited for an immortal. I knew there would be side effects from using the drug, but I didn't expect it to practically cripple me.

Next thing I knew, I found myself being lifted from behind by my the collar of my armor. _I'm gonna die,_ I thought hopelessly as I was flung into a tree.

_Ever since my brother died, I just wish that in this war we have waged against the immortals, that we could one day work our differences to co-exist with one another._ The thought that I had during my SIAF interview seemed to hold less and less relevance with the amount of violence, power, and tension in both internal and external conflicts.

_Your brother could never be saved! Once a non-human, always a non-human!_ No, every conflict needs a solution. But, I had a feeling that whatever solution is proposed, one side will always vote for a pyrrhic way to end the war.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"Mathieu!" That was too powerful of a strike for a human like him to sustain. As I saw him black out from the attack, I ran to help him. I knew that he would not be able to handle our enemies as a human. Sure, he had has brief moment of power when he used an adrenaline syringe to help us, but after the effects wore off, I felt like he needed to turn into one of us.

In that moment, I dropped my guard for a mere second and had an immortal's foot meet my stomach like two cars colliding head-on; the impact was forceful enough for me to cough up blood. I fell on my back, unable to get up because of how painful that attack was. Two immortals took advantage of this, stabbing two of their daggers into my both of my arms, nailing me to the ground.

David, Eve, and Michael were fairing no better than I was. David had both of his palms and his left leg impaled onto a tree; Eve found herself getting hit hard twice in the stomach before an immortal threw her in the air, knocking her out as she went through a tree.

The hostiles centered their attention towards Michael, surrounding him. They all simultaneously cut their wrists open to release blood from their veins. Then, the leaking blood started to solidify with a dagger-like appearance and chucked them swiftly at Michael. I watched as my lover was relentlessly stabbed by the blood daggers until he finally collapsed. Then, the daggers liquified, absorbing themselves into Michael's bloodstream; and I looked on hopelessly as Michael was coughing blood and convulsing from the venom.

I knew that we would be facing potentially powerful resistance. I did not expect to be overwhelmed as easily as we were.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

"That was a little bit excessive, wasn't it?"

"Lucian, we both carry the Corvinus strain and I've suffered even more than they have. What I had my soldiers do was nothing compared to the pain I went through," I justified, fidgeting with my prosthetic fingertips, clenching my teeth at the memory of what I had endured.

"And the human?" Lucian questioned.

"I've gotta admit, he's brave for a human," I complimented. "But he would never stand a chance against Azazel if his superpower is a needle. He'll have to turn eventually."

"It looks like they are unable to fight back now," Lucian observed. "We should take the opportunity to capture them."

"Wait!" I halted Lucian. "Look at Michael. He carries a similar trait to Azazel and I." I looked into Michael's red irises, glowing ever so bright.

"It's fitting to see the first hybrid finally achieve this form," Lucian commented.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

Michael growled in anger and that was when I noticed his body transforming even further. The muscle mass on his limbs increased significantly from before, becoming more brutish in nature, almost as massive as Quint Lane's physique. His muzzle has become much more profound, and his teeth were longer and sharper than daggers. His red iris grew wider, almost covering his entire eye. Michael stood up and roared loudly.

_Michael, what the hell are you?_


	8. How Darkness Tears Us Apart

**A/N: Thanks to GinsengH for the constructive criticism. Admittedly, some of the content of these chapters have sounded pretty awkward in hindsight. But I hope to see my own writing improve within the next couple of chapter and form an identity with this fanfic from the Early Installment Weirdness that it is going through, especially regarding the dialogue (which I'm admittedly not very great in since I am a usually reclusive person).  
**

_Chapter 8: How Darkness Tears Us Apart  
October 3rd, 2024, 7:08 AM  
Selene's POV_

Ever since I found Michael yesterday, he had been acting more agitated and paranoid than usual. I knew Michael to be brave in the battles that we had fought, despite his initial lack of fighting experience. He was my sword and shield, willing to protect me and defeat whatever enemies come across our path. Though he was one of the strongest immortals, even during our battles, I could feel a human nature to his actions. But after seeing him unnecessarily slaughter a human bystander, nearly hurting me, and now seeing his advanced hybrid form; I could not help but feel like the Michael I knew was not there.

Michael charged swiftly at the immortal hostiles at such blinding speed that even a vampire's eyes could hardly keep up with his movements. I watched him brutally tear off one immortal into pieces as if I was watching a banned horror film. Even Michael's fighting style has become much more violent and cruel; I should be glad that he was starting to turn the tide in this battle with his newfound strength, but his inhumane, bestial nature made me start to fear him more than the immortals we were fighting. Even though we are cold-blooded, I could feel a very sinister chill as if winter was already freezing over.

I removed the knives that were pinning me down. I was still stunned by the kick to the stomach that I had endured and already felt drained of stamina after being overwhelmed by the initial waves of hostiles. As I watched Michael's barbaric (gratuitously so) carnage rage on, I debated on helping Michael, not necessarily to aid him in battle, but to reach out to him. He appeared almost blood-drunk in nature.

Just as I was about to head towards Michael, he punched a hostile with enough force to send his bloodied body flying towards me, hitting me in the head and knocking me unconscious.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

There was no doubt about it; Michael had inherited an advanced transformation beyond the initial powers of those with the Corvinus strain. Only Azazel and I had carried that advanced form of the strain, so I was surprised to see him already reaching this state this early with little combat experience.

But he had as much control of this form as a drunk driver; he's intoxicated on the incredible powers of the Corvinus strain that he showed complete disregard to his own soul mate when he had indirectly harmed her with my puppet soldier's body. I knew this because of my own experiences upon awakening this form. It did not go well for me and as I looked at the palms of my prosthetic hands, I thought, _this will not end well with Michael._

* * *

_David's POV_

Michael had inadvertently hit Selene, but he did not seem to notice or care as he kept on relentlessly fighting the enemies without hesitation or weakness. He had become a wild untamed animal in that form.

_I've gotta get the others out of here. It's too dangerous!_ I snapped off the twig branches that were holding me and dashed towards Selene's location. Michael immediately glanced at me as I picked her unconscious body and carried her on my back. "Michael, just calm down," I tried to ease the merciless hybrid. "I'm just going to get your family out of Rosethorn." Michael retorted by charging headlong towards me. I jumped back and barely missed his attack as his claws grazed my left thigh.

I could not tell if he attacked me because he viewed me as a threat to Selene or if it was simply just bloodlust carnage. All I know is that the line between friend and enemy has blurred to the point where all Michael sees is red. The same color as his new red eyes. I've never felt such fear in my life, even when facing death in the eye when my family was escaping the humans.

The fear of confrontation was thankfully halted when more of the immortal forces starting fighting Michael again. I could not tell if either Michael or the immortals were with or against us, but I do know that regardless, we were caught in the middle of chaos. I was about to head to Eve when I saw Mathieu laying injured by a tree; his forehead bleeding from the impact that the immortals dealt him with. _Damn it, Mathieu. Why did you try to be such a hero in such a vain situation?_ I carried Mathieu's body tucked into my arm and rushed to Eve's location. _If he's going to risk his life in critical situations like this, he'll either end up dead or turned into one of us. And I'm pretty sure his career in SIAF would be over if the latter were to happen._

I finally ran towards Eve, carrying both Selene and Mathieu in my arms. Michael charged at me almost as fast as a bullet. I felt like I was about to go into a world of hurt beyond my imagination until Mathieu threw a scent grenade at him, exploding in a mist of red to confuse the bloodthirsty Michael. "You thought I was done?" Mathieu told me as we stopped at Eve's location. "This _human_ can go through more than you think."

As I grabbed the unconscious Eve, I looked at Michael as the red clouds of blood from the scent grenade surrounded him. I saw him turn around constantly, blinding destroying trees and screaming. _I can't imagine how Selene or Eve would feel if they saw Michael like this. I could not imagine how Michael would feel about himself if he came to his senses._

I grabbed everyone and had them all rest on the river bank below the ground. I felt stressed carrying three bodies around and had to take a brief breather. _The scent grenade will last for two more minutes. Should buy some time while I wake Selene and Eve up._

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

Michael had become a bloodthirsty, savage beast, unable to distinguish friend, especially family, from enemies. It was hopeless for the others to escape from him, let alone fight him in battle without being in the form that he was in. His bloodlust will tear his family apart, both physically and, probably worse off, psychologically.

That was the test I set for Selene and her family. Though, they have the potential to achieve the second form of the Corvinus strain, the power will be in vain to stop Azazel if they are cerebrally broken. It was...amusing enough to see Michael already lost in his recklessness already. If he were to transform back to his regular form and find out that he has hurt, or killed his own family, I would not imagine the guilt he would face if it would come to that.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"Selene, wake up." I found myself perched on the riverbank, still feeling the concussion that had knocked me out.

"Is that..." Eve looked over the bank of the river to take a glance at Michael's new form. "Is that Dad?" She was as baffled as I was, seeing him roam around recklessly.

"He's being controlled by his anger," David commented to both me and Eve. "I'm going to throw another scent grenade and have us get out of this fucking forest before he kills us all."

_"You've lost a lot of blood. If you don't stop the car, you're gonna get us both killed. I'm not screwing around!"_

_"They'll kill you too just for helping me."_

That was when I realized that Michael had become almost trapped by his own powers. In fact, though he has not had a mark on him, he seemed to be hurting gravely from the inside. "Michael?" I tried to get up and walk towards him, only for David to grab my arm.

"Selene, you can't go near him," David quietly warned to me. "He is not the Michael you knew in loved. He tried to kill us while you were unconscious."

_Abomination._ I could hear David's comments mirror that of Viktor's. I am reminded of the atrocity of Viktor killing his own daughter to prevent a hybrid to be born. To see Michael wandering about like a wild animal, I wanted to deny Viktor's claim. I heard Michael roar once more; the sound was as loud as an explosion._ No! That is not what Michael is!_ "I have to talk to him."

"Please, Selene," David said in a more worrying tone, strongly unwilling to let me go. "You'll get torn to shreds if you confront him. He won't care if he kills you! We have to leave before he tries to pursue us again."

"I've got to see him," I insisted. "I'm going to try to reach out to him." I looked at Michael roaring about at the sky like a wolf crying at the moon. "I feel like he's hurting. I don't want to abandon him like this!" I really did not want to abandon him. I shook David's grip off of my hand and walked my way back to the trail.

Michael glanced at me, but not in the compassionate way that he once showed after our previous battles. I immediately noticed the hostility by looking at his red eyes.

"Michael." I walked up behind him to touch his shoulder with my right hand. "Everything is fine. They are all gone now. You can stop."

His malicious look did not change even in the slightest. I started to contemplate running, as David suggested, until Michael grabbed my right arm with both of his hands. His grip on my arm was so tight that his nails were embedded into my skin. He roared at me with no hint of restraint when he was around me. _He won't care if he kills you!_ David's voice echoed through my head.

And then, Michael pulled my arm with great force.

Ripping it off from the elbow.

_M-Michael...?_

Michael put his weight on me and pinned me to the ground. "Michael...what are you...?" I could feel my shoulders breaking from the pressure of his claws. I lied there helpless as he sunk his sharp fangs deep into my left shoulder, rendering any action from my remaining arm useless.

David was truly sincere when he told me that he had become the enemy. The physical pain that he was inflicting on me was nothing compared to the emotional pain I was truly writhing from. The one that cared for me when other immortals had turned their backs on me; when practically anyone we knew was an enemy; saving me countless times from extreme situations. I wanted to deny that Michael has become a monster, hell bent on killing anything that is living. Tears were running down my face, knowing that Michael was about to kill his own lover with no remorse.

* * *

_Eve's POV_

The moment that my dad started to truly hurt Mom, I rushed recklessly in my hybrid form, without a second thought towards him and pushed him away from her. _My god, Father. What have you done? _Though I only knew Dad for a day, he would never be the one to blindly hurt Mom. Why was he doing this? And why does he have the same red iris as the other immortals we fought? Is this some kind of result from tapping into his hybrid form?

"Eve, we have to run!" David called to me. "He'll be after you ne-" I suddenly saw Dad charge at me like a bullet train, punching me hard in the stomach and knocking me into the river. Just before I lost consciousness, all I could think of was how things would have been had we removed ourselves from this endless war.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

As David and I saw Michael punch Eve into the river, I knew that we could not stand a chance against him. I felt that even escaping from him would not be an option. But I thought to myself, _Fuck it, we might die anyway, but I don't want to just die like a sitting duck!_ "David, grab Selene and Eve and get the fuck out of this place. I'm going to try to tame him." I told him as I injected another adrenaline pen. I felt my injuries becoming more bearable and my abilities growing even stronger than the last injection. The larger the dose, the stronger my abilities become; but I knew that I would end up even worse off than the crippled state I was before. I might even die, but if I was going to die, I wanted to help the others out and go out with a bang.

I ran towards Michael and threw a punch at him, knocking him into another tree. "David, get out!" I pursued Michael as David cradled the now unconscious Selene in his arms, regardless of if I stood a chance against the red-eyed bastard. "Come on, you motherfucker! Kill me, you fucking brute!" The fact that I was accepting my fate has made me feel good to be alive. I was expecting to feel the adverse effects of overdosing on the synthetic adrenaline, but I felt like I could see and feel everything with pure clarity as if I actually was an immortal; not necessarily vampire or Lycan, but with the abilities consistent of them. I felt as if I never got the beating that I had previously endured _at all_.

Michael charged at me one more time and I looked him in the eye as if I was staring at Death itself.

I was reminded of how Tim had accepted that he was going to die, but did not care and charged at the soldiers anyway. _Fuck you!_ I remembered him say. His death was symbolic of the life that was needlessly taken. I hoped that David, Selene, and Eve could continue Tim's legacy if I were to die.

Just as I was about to defend myself from Michael's attack, a woman in a red cloak swiftly tackled him to the ground.

Michael thrashed about like an infant in a crib as he was pinned to the ground by the woman; her heels pinning his thighs, left hand holding his chest, and her right hand holding his shoulder. The woman quickly sank her teeth into Michael's shoulder, subduing him as she held on until he fell unconscious. Michael's body reverted back to its human form, though his skin was more red than it was before.

_This is some fucking day. To befriend Selene and the others, seeing Michael lose his shit, and be saved by a stranger that is even stronger than he is... I need a fucking beer after this. Scratch that, I need some Jameson shots.  
_

The woman turned her face towards me once Michael had turned back into his human form, staring at me with a set of red eyes that I've seen probably a dozen times; however, her eyes were not glowing like the others that we've faced. They looked less malicious, as if it was her natural eye color. Her curly, dark red hair did not appear to look like she bleached it; it looked completely natural as well. It almost seemed as if her blood had stained the pigmentation of both her eyes and hair. Of all the red-eyed immortals that we've fought, she seemed like a master of that form.

"Great, we tamed that brute," I tried to appease her. "He was a feisty fucker, wasn't he?"

Looking closer, I noticed that some of the veins on her face and neck were bulging and dark in color. She had a visible scar that went from her left cheek to the left side of her chin. That was unusual because immortals never leave scars at all. I did not notice when she was subduing Michael, but what really caught my eye was that both of her arms were completely mechanical. I could not help but stare at her jet-black, skeletal hands and wonder what she had gone though.

"And you are an amusing one," she countered with a smirk on her face.

I nervously chuckled. "Well, I guess you're a friend?"

She had an innocuous smile. That was the last thing I saw before I was knocked out with a blow to the head.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

"I'm surprised he held he was able to fend off Michael for a short time without turning," I commented to Lucian, who started to carry Mathieu's body. "The fact that he was still standing despite being thrown by one of my puppet soldiers and using those adrenaline syringes; he is definitely another strong descendant of Alexander Corvinus."

"And perhaps just as strong as Michael," Lucian added. "Maybe you do not need to turn him after all?"

"A human killing Azazel?"

"After all, Selene killed Viktor when he was distracted," Lucian reminded. "A human can be stronger than you think. Don't get too cocky with your own powers; they'll mean nothing if you underestimate the enemy."

I looked at my hands once more, reminded of my experiences. "Have Raze and Nikolai intercepted the others?"

"They're being taken to the safehouse as we speak. Have they passed the test?"

I smiled. "Now that Michael's actions have broken them apart, I'll do the rest myself when they'll fully healed."


	9. Scars of Corvinus

The worst part of losing consciousness is that you will never know if you are going to wake up again. To be honest, after what happened to me regarding Michael, I wished that I didn't.

_Chapter 9: Scars of Corvinus  
Unknown date and time  
Unknown location  
Selene's POV_

I opened my eyes to the sight of a blinding light. I thought that I was in Heaven at first until my eyes started to readjust; they were merely ceiling lights attached to a turquoise-colored ceiling. I found myself laying in a white hospital bed, wearing a blue medical gown with a white blanket covering me up to my neck. "Where am I?" I said to myself. I sat up and started massaging my forehead with my... skeletal, jet black, metallic hand that extended to the stub of what remained of my right arm when Michael ripped it off. It looked like something from a twisted science fiction film, but I could move my fingers and my elbow the way I could when I still had my arm. I could also feel my forehead with my metal fingers, as if the prosthetic had simulated feeling. Still, the more I looked at my prosthetic, the more I ruminated about how Michael recklessly and relentlessly attacked me. I could feel my arm getting ripped off a dozen times over the more I tinkered with it.

Then I took a look at my left shoulder and noticed a profound scar where Michael had bitten me. Vampires and Lycans (especially considering that I carry the Corvinus strain) are not supposed to leave scars; I've been stabbed on several occasions and almost burned in the sunlight, and I never had scars from those instances. However, as I moved my surviving left arm, it felt as if it was never broken.

These wounds that I had been inflicted with were a reminder of what I felt like I was going to lose. The fear of losing Michael to his own uncontrollable powers. The fear of losing Eve to this war. I could not tell how long I had been unconscious for, but I knew that it was only three days after I had been frozen that my world had come crashing down. I did not know if Eve and the others were still alive. Or if Michael had started to regain his senses and realized what he had done.

But what I wondered was how Michael had achieved his advanced hybrid form. I knew he was showing signs of his reckless behavior by attacking that human the day we found him. Was this Antigen's doing? He, in particular, was kept secret in an isolated area in their headquarters, labeled 'Subject 0'. Did Antigen have even more ambitious goals than they had with Eve? Were they doing experiments with him?

And the immortals that attacked us also had the same red irises that Michael had, yet they were roughly as strong as I was when facing them one-on-one. Were they associated with the Lycan pack in Rosethorn, especially considering that none of them transformed into them? Did they have anything to do with Michael before we all broke out of Antigen?

I couldn't just lay in my bed and constantly think of what or how all of this happened. I wanted to know if the others are as safe as I was, though I was doubtful if being taken to an unknown hospital could be considered 'safe'. I put my feet on the ground and started to roam around the room.

Though there was only one way in and out of my room, I couldn't help but feel extremely uneasy. The room was dead silent to the point where all I could hear was myself breathing and my heart beating. I was scared to even let out a sound.

I looked at myself in the mirror. _Look at yourself. You're freaking out over nothing. You'll pull though._ I turned on the faucet and started washing my face. The moment I looked at the mirror again, I noticed briefly that my irises were the same red color as the other immortals we've fought. _What the fuck? _But when I blinked again, they returned to the light-blue color.

_Fucking hell._ It seemed as if someone was playing with me. First with the visions that I've had and now, seeing myself with that fucking red iris.

All of a sudden, I saw Viktor in the mirror standing right behind me. I heard him say _Abomination_ as if he really was there.I instantly grew angry and turned myself around, ready to punch Viktor with my mechanical fist.

But all I saw was nothing.

On one of the counters, I noticed that there was a single dagger sitting there. _Whoever took me here, at least you had the courtesy to give me a weapon... and a new arm._ I needed to find an answers and the only way to find out was to open the door and exit this place.

The moment that I opened the door, I was in absolute awe. "What?" It did not lead me to a hallway. It led me to the middle of a forest at either dusk or dawn. I took a moment to blink a couple of times, hoping that my eyes did not deceive me, but my hospital room really did lead to the woods. I slowly walked out of the room and onto the gravel with my bare feet. _Am I still at Rosethorn?_ I looked back... and the room that I had left had completely disappeared; it was just the other direction of the trail.

I was almost in hysterics at the sight. _These mind games... they're messing with my psyche!_ I readied my dagger, expecting whatever was out to attack me. I scanned all three-hundred and sixty degrees of my surroundings as I walked the trail, expecting an ambush by the red-eyed immortals that attacked my family earlier. Even then, with the visions that I had seen, I did not know what to expect.

"This trail," I said to myself. "Everything about it...feels so unnatural." The air was not blowing; in fact, there was no wind at all. It felt as if I was walking on a lifeless planet. Everything was quiet except for my footsteps on the dirt trail.

Until I heard leaves rustle to my right. I immediately turned my attention towards the sound. "Who's there?" My voice reverberated across the forest. After twenty seconds, I heard nothing else. Part of me wanted to call out whoever or whatever was moving. Another part of me felt like so fearful, that I almost felt like a singer fearing that his or her otherwise decent voice would sound horribly off-key or irritating in tone. Regardless, I continued trudging through the trail.

_Was it just my imagination or was someone really there stalking me? Fuck, I gotta compose myself. Come on, Selene! You've been through the worst parts of this war! You killed Marcus and Jacob, you will handle what's coming up. _Whatever that was.

If something or someone was stalking me at all.

I looked to the left part of the trail... and I took a glimpse at Eve impaled on a tree, bloodied and lifeless. "Wh-what?" I gasped with tears about to fall down my eyes. Until I blinked once again. Eve was not there. Anger started to stir up in me once more. _What's with this cryptic nonsense? Who the fuck is doing this? Why can't he or she just run here and try to kill me instead of fucking with my mind? Are my family and friends alive or dead? Just give me a fucking answer!  
_

I did not know what to believe. Eve, Michael, David, and Mathieu could either be alive or dead. Completely either way. In fact, there were moments where I could not help but wonder if I really was mauled by Michael. Was I dreaming? Hell, has all of this from when I woke up at Antigen been some fucking nightmare? I did not know what was real or just a fucking mind game.

_How long is this fucking trail?_ At that point, I had been walking for about ten minutes. The trail from when I had walked out of my hospital room to that point went _entirely _straight. Yet it felt like I was running in circles.

"Selene!" All of a sudden, I saw an ex-Death Dealer walk up from the trees to confront me. I instantly recognized him.

"Rigel?" I did not believe that I just saw. I saw the Lycans gun him down with UV ammunition. Yet here he was as if he had never been harmed at all.

"Listen, I'm speaking to you in a brief window of clarity. You cannot trust what she shows you."

"You're dead! I saw the Lycans kill you at that subway!"

"Yes, I am dead," Rigel said. "It doesn't make any sense. Like I said, don't trust what Aurora shows you. I'm just one of her puppets. If you stay entranced, she'll make you a puppet as well."

"Who the fuck's Aurora?" I asked him.

"You've got to fight her. I don't care if she is stronger than you are and I know it sounds like suicide, but you'll end up being her slave if you keep stalling. You've got to fight her!"

And then, I heard a faint growl behind me. I turned back.

It was him.

"Michael."

He was in his advanced hybrid form, staring at me without any acknowledgement or expression of sympathy for wounding me.

"Michael, I don't want to hurt you." I readied my knife, reluctant to fight him. "Just come to your senses and no one gets hurt." I knew that in his second form, he would easily be able to kill one of the red-eyed immortals. I backed several steps, unsure if he will make a move if I ran. _How long has Michael been roaming around for? _I still could not tell how long I had been out for, but assuming it took time for someone to fit a prosthetic arm, at least it would have been for several hours if it was dusk or at least a day if it was dawn. Michael had been roaming around the forest for a long time. I also did not know if Eve, Mathieu, or David had escaped from him. But looking at the fresh blood that was on his body, I thought, _don't tell me. Did he kill them? Or is he just a trick as Rigel said all of this was?  
_

Michael growled at me, running like a truck ready to run someone over. I was about to defend myself from his attack (if that really was him), until I blinked right at the moment he would try to claw me.

And he was gone.

"Reliving your worst fears, aren't you?" I heard a voice speak behind me. I turned around to see a women dressed in a red cloak. She looked similar to me, only that she stood slightly taller (about 6') and her curly hair was almost as red as the red irises in her eyes. Red had to be my least favorite color at that point and she seemed like the embodiment of the advanced powers that were demonstrated by the soldiers and Michael. "Hello there," she said in an almost friendly tone, smiling.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked in an agitated tone.

"Let's just say I'm someone that has been watching your family for a long time," she explained, as she removed the hood of her cloak with both of her mechanical hands; I assumed the same type as my right arm. "You can call me Aurora." She smiled innocuously at me, almost like she was a schoolgirl trying to impress her teachers.

But I knew it was too good to be true. "Wipe that smile off your face," I shouted at her. "I know you're the one that has been showing me these fucking visions! Where is my family and what the hell is going on?"

"So serious, aren't you?" Aurora mocked. "You're as emotionally intense as I heard you were."

Aurora was angering me more, even if those remarks were small. "Don't play these games with me," I shouted as I ran at her with my dagger only for her to stop my attack with her own knife. She kept that almost infectiously sweet look on her face while locking her blade with mine with little-to-no effort.

"I'd like to tell you how your friends and family are doing," Aurora said. "But that would ruin the fun if I told you right now." I tried to attack her again, but Aurora casually blocked my attack. "Tell you what, you bring me to the brink of death and I'll tell you everything."

"I'll enjoy making you suffer," I told her. It did not seem at that that Aurora wanted to kill me. More likely, she seemed like she was toying with me. She seemed to be the one that was responsible for the visions that I've seen and I knew she had my family captive. Though the way that Aurora blocked my first two attacks felt like nothing to her, I wanted answers and continued fighting.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for the feedback! I'm really glad that the last chapter has had a positive reception!  
**

**Interestingly, while originally mapping out this chapter, this was originally meant to have Aurora visit Selene in that hospital and simply explaining what happened to her family in a more serious tone. I thought it would be more fun to have Selene feel more anxious if her family was even alive at that point, and to have Aurora have a sweeter personality. I might upload that original draft on a separate story, but I'm going to hold off on it since it will reveal what's to come in the upcoming chapters.**


	10. Revelations

**A/N: Sorry if I've been leaving a lot of things too ambiguous. This arc will focus more on the individual characters, hence why both Chapter 9 and this chapter were entirely focused on Selene and Aurora. Future chapters will try to focus on the others once Selene and Aurora have finished their encounter.  
**

* * *

_Chapter 10: Revelations  
Selene's POV_

"Your emotions blind you, Selene," Aurora taunted as she kept blocking my strikes with little effort at all. "This is not like the calm, collected fighting style that I thought you would have."

"Shut up," I told her as I kept attacking her angrily. I knew that I was fairing much worse than I usually did. I usually centered my combat around tactical and practical techniques, preferring to take down an enemy without restraint. But during my duel with Aurora, the way I was fighting was fueled by the anger I was feeling, but at the same time hampered from what had happened with Michael. I was using too much strength in every one of my swings against Aurora and it was slowing me down. Still, I really wanted to how what she had done to the others.

"You'll end up destroying yourself in the end," Aurora said. "Just ask Michael, that is, if he is still alive."

"Always acting cryptic, aren't you? Just tell me if they are alive or not," I demanded, ticked off at her sardonic remarks.

"But it's no fun," Aurora repeated herself in a faux-whiny tone.

"Just shut up!" I repeated in a frustrated tone as I mustered enough strength to knock the dagger out of Aurora's hand. "Die!" I aimed my dagger for her heart only for her to grab my metal wrist with her left hand. I tried to punch her in the face with my other fist, only for her to grab it with her other arm.

"Your attacks are too predictable." Aurora's grip started to crush my prosthetic. I could feel the nerves from my severed stump jolt from the damage to the artificial nerves in my arm as sparks started to fly from the broken wires. "I'd hate to see you end up like me in such a short time. To be torn apart... limb from limb, replacing what's left with machine." I briefly sensed a minor bit of angst in Aurora's tone. Though she was an enemy, I could not help but feel even a bit of sympathy for her injuries. The scar on her left cheek and her prosthetic replacements. What the hell happened to her?

Aurora then proceeded to sever my prosthetic hand. Aurora let go of my living arm, took a second to regain her guard and kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me flying like a soccer ball into a tree. I collapsed on my knees with my hands on the gravel, coughing up blood. That was when I noticed the jet-black metal that surrounded her foot; all of her limbs were mechanical. I looked at what remained of my mechanical arm. _That was strange. She could have easily severed both of my arms, rendering me unable to pick up a weapon. Either she's still toying with me or maybe she doesn't want to see me in an even more sorry state as I already was in. Also, if Aurora's arms were mechanical as well, then how was she able to destroy my prosthetic (which is pretty much the same as hers) with little effort at all? With muscles that are mechanical, her strength should be limited. Unless there's an outside force surrounding Aurora's red-eyed state._

Aurora took my dagger from my severed hand. "Sad to see you so damaged already," she mocked. "I guess you'll never get your answers. You're too weak to stand a chance against me. Let alone Azazel."

_Azazel... is that her master? _I knew that Aurora herself was an extremely talented immortal, but when she spoke of this Azazel, I could not imagine facing him. I thought the visions were of Aurora, but they were of the other person she spoke of.

Aurora then stabbed herself in the chest with my dagger. "What are you doing?" I questioned Aurora's seemingly self-destructive act as I stood back up.

"I'd thought I'd demonstrate the powers you are up against," Aurora replied, pulling the dagger back out from her chest. The blood that covered the blade started to crystallize around the dagger. The stab wound in Aurora's chest started to seep a red aura that started to surround her body. "Stage two of the Corvinus strain." Aurora moved faster than my eyes could see and impaled me in the stomach with her red dagger, keeping me pinned on the tree. "And I have you to thank," she said, closing her eyes and smiling.

"What?"

Aurora laughed. "Have you ever thought of how humans have discovered both of the immortal species? How this war has escalated at such a chaotic state? When your monster of a Hybrid, Michael, got caught into this war, it marked the downfall of both species. The apparent death of Lucian and the death of all three of the vampires Elders, two of which you are responsible for, caused both species to cause chaos across the globe. You and your Hybrid are the reasons this war has become much worse than it would have been. But at least your actions made our coven stronger since we all carry the Corvinus strain." Aurora started twisting the dagger inside me, making the wound even larger. I squirmed as she kept twisting while Aurora seemed to enjoy hurting me with a sadistic look on her face. "How will you be able to pay for what you and Michael have done to the world?"

She had a point, as much as I wanted to deny it. This war had indeed become worse when Michael came into the picture. I would still be loyal to Viktor, oblivious to the fact that he was the one that killed my family. The war would have ended earlier; the Lycans would most likely become extinct and the humans would be living their lives peacefully.

My body was becoming slowly unresponsive and I was starting to lose consciousness. That dagger that Aurora impaled me with; it felt like it was poisoning me. I had the same dying sensation as when Michael was biting into my shoulder. "My dagger contains a venom that infects the bloodstream," Aurora explained. "A venom extracted from my own blood. And it's slowly killing you the more you're exposed to it. I could easily kill you at any moment, but seeing you suffer is more pleasurable." She removed the dagger from my abdomen and grabbed me from the shoulders. "Rather, I'd make death an option for you to beg for." She threw me about one hundred feet from her location into the woods, having me crash into several trees to slow myself down.

I landed in a very shallow river, landing on something round. "Oh my god," I gasped. I was in a mass grave. I've dealt with disposing of Lycan carcasses during my Death Dealer days. But looking at the casual clothing that many of these corpses wore, they seemed to be humans. All of them seemed to have been rotting for quite a while. They were hardly recognizable except for four of them laying in a row, freshly deceased. My heart was filled with lamentation when I recognized them.

"No." I crawled my way on the corpses to get to their bodies. "Please, you can't be dead." I grabbed Eve's neck to feel her pulse. Nothing. "No, no! No!" I started shaking Eve, hoping that she would respond.

_Nothing_. "Eve..."

I moved onto the others. "David? Mathieu? _Michael_?" Tears started streaming down my face as my worst fears had become reality. I was unable to accept the fact that everyone that I've cared for were gone.

"You said you wanted answers." Aurora's words suddenly triggered a feeling inside.

"You killed them," I said catatonically, not even bothering to look at her. I had a feeling that she was smiling at me like a psychopath, mocking my emotions.

"That's right," Aurora confirmed bluntly. "Thought it would be right if I let you see the corpses of your family and friends before it's your turn."

I looked at my family and looked at my reflection in the thin river. The venom was very slow, but I could barely see clearly. _I guess this is the end of my journey. I never thought that I would go down pathetically. _

"But there's still hope for you and your companions." I instantly looked at her as she reached for her cloak pocket and unveiled four vials of blood. "These vials contain the blood life of your friends and family," Aurora explained. "Take them from me and your companions will be brought back to life."

Slowly, my vision started to clear up and any sense of numbness was replaced with anger at the frustrating situation I was in. "Hand them to me now!" I screamed at her, knowing there is a sliver of hope to restore them.

"Oh, Selene," Aurora pitied. "I never thought you would resort to begging to set them free."

"Bring them back," I pleaded. I started to walk towards her, stumbling against the corpses in the mass grave.

"Your only chance of reviving them and you're too weak to take it." Aurora crushed the vials with her mechanical hand without remorse. Just a smile that seemed even more malicious than innocuous.

"No!" I watched as all hope to reunite with my companions was literally shattered. For when the vials were crushed, so was my will.

"You have lost, but what you've got out of this duel is humility," Aurora lectured. "Now you know what the humans feel when they are vulnerable against anarchic vampires and Lycans. How does it feel, knowing that there will always be a stronger being than you are?"

"Shut up," I whispered hoarsely with my teeth clenched. I started to feel a strange power inside me slowly being released. "For what you've done..." From my stomach wound, the same red aura that Aurora had started to surround me.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

It seemed like I went a little too far when I crushed vials of _random human_ blood, not the blood life of Eve, David, Mathieu, and Michael. Little did Selene know that her family and friends were actually still alive and would be subject to my tests as she was; the bodies in question were simply one of my illusionary techniques.

"You will pay!" Selene screamed, opening her red eyes. She had fully awakened the second stage of the Corvinus strain. Her wound had fully healed and she stood back up with her red irises looking directly at mine. "You will never get away with what you've done! You will pay _dearly!_"

* * *

_Selene's POV_

I jumped over Aurora and punched her in the stomach, sending her to the opposite end of the river. Aurora held her stomach with her right hand, coughing up blood. I immediately dashed towards her as she tried to get up, kicking her in the stomach once more. Aurora slid to gain distance from me, buying her enough time to stand back up, albeit shaken and hurt from the attacks. I rushed in recklessly once more towards her, trying to lay another punch, but Aurora had regained her guard and started dodging and blocking my punches. Though I had only one arm, my speed and seemingly limitless power had compensated for the loss. I laid one powerful punch towards her right palm, shattering her limb all the way to the elbow. Aurora pulled her dagger from her cloak once more with her remaining hand and tried to stab me again, but I caught her wrist and immediately tore off her hand.

I grabbed her dagger. "Die!" I pinned Aurora to the ground, stabbing her in the chest repeatedly. I did not care if there was any explanation of who this Azazel that she spoke of was or why Michael had acted the way he did; all I wanted to do at that point was kill Aurora. I kept stabbing her until she collapsed from the injuries that I had inflicted on her.

I took a moment to catch my breath. I was so angry, so dead set on killing Aurora that I did not realize how powerful I had become. Roughly the same situation Michael was in when he transformed into his advanced hybrid form.

Aurora lay there in a pool of her own blood, motionless. I touched her neck to check her pulse to make sure that she was truly dead. "Good riddance." But just in case, I brought up my knife with the intention of decapitating her; the most effective way of killing an immortal with the Corvinus strain as I had demonstrated with Marcus.

All of a sudden, I felt something sharp pierce through my chest and lift me off the ground. I observed the object that stabbed me: a blackened wing talon that sprouted from Aurora's back. Aurora swung her wing, sending me flying into another tree.

"You did good." Aurora said as she stood back up as if the wounds I had inflicted were nothing. Taking a closer look, I noticed that her wings were feathery while at the same time retaining the bat-like shape akin to Marcus's wings.

"Why aren't you dead?" I shouted fearfully. Aurora started walked closer to me. I lunged at her with my knife, ready to wound her again before my arm was impaled by her talon, forcing me to drop my knife.

"Never thought I'd be using these again," she said, retracting her wings into her back. "Congratulations. You've now achieved the second stage of the Corvinus strain."

"I only gained this form because you killed them! You killed my family!"

Aurora smirked. "Are they _really_ dead?"

I looked back at the mass grave to see that the bodies of Eve, David, Mathieu, and Michael were missing. "Where are they?" I asked her.

"Your companions are still alive," Aurora said. "This duel was a test to bring out the worst of you and have you rebound stronger than ever with the second stage of the strain."

"Finally you have the courtesy to give me a straight fucking answer," I said. "Now I want to know a couple of other things: Who are you and what are your motives? You wanted me to gain that new power, so what are you trying to gain?"

Aurora grinned. "Well, you've done enough damage to force me to stop my heart," she said. "And I promised I would tell you everything once you have hurt me."

"Just tell me!" I demanded. "Before I'll kill you on the spot. Who are you?"

Aurora seemed surprised at my statement and laughed again. "Would you really kill your own daughter?"

I was flabbergasted by what she had just said. Aurora was my child? "No. That can't be. I only have one daughter!"

"I am that one daughter," Aurora said. "Subject 2."

I was even more shocked at what she had just said. Was I facing some kind of clone or an older counterpart of Eve? The resemblance seemed almost jarring; the kind-hearted, yet troubled Eve would grow into a cold-hearted psychopath that nearly killed her own mother?

"That's right, Mother," Aurora confirmed. "I am Eve, but from a different timeline. You can still call me Aurora, though."

This changed everything. The fact that Aurora had come from a different timeline has started to put pieces in the puzzle. The visions that I saw actually were messages of the future that Aurora had seen. With that reveal, I could not help but feel like Aurora was the victim and not the enemy as I thought she was.


	11. Like Mother, Like Daughter

_Chapter 11: Like Mother, Like Daughter  
Five minutes earlier  
Eve's POV_

It felt like I was hit by a speeding truck when I woke up. A truck driven by my own intoxicated father. Finding myself in a hospital room, I did not know if it was another safehouse that belonged to David's coven. Or if I was at a completely different area courtesy of the immortals that we've fought.

I could not get the thought of my dad killing my mom out of my head. How could he not realize that he has hurt his own family without even a slight trace of restraint? I've barely known my parents since it had been only mere days being with them, but what he had done was completely uncharacteristic of him. They've been fighting together throughout the war and now, to see that he had turned against his own, I'm absolutely appalled. Part of me feels like there was some outside force taking control of Dad. I want to believe that, but it felt hard not to think of what he had done. Were there any other times that he had hurt Mom before I was born? Hurt others in his recklessness? I really do not know what to think.

I took a look in the mirror and saw a completely different person. Taller stature. Red hair. Red coat. Prosthetic limbs. A scar on her left cheek. Those red irises. _Those red irises._ _Is she one of the soldiers that we've fought in Rosethorn? _Was this a vision; a message telling me something?

I moved my hands around and saw the women in the mirror copy my movements. All of a sudden, she smiled, letting out a chuckle. Then, she pulled a knife from her right sleeve and attempt to stab me. I fell back on the ground to avoid her attack, only for her image to disappear and return to my own reflection. _At least Antigen was pretty blunt when they told me they would use me as an experiment. But the further we investigate these happenings, the more questions we have. _

All of a sudden, I saw yet another vision. This time, from the eyes of my mother. She was stabbing the same person that I saw in the mirror, in a much agitated and aggressive nature than the more calculating attitude I had noticed in the previous battles with Jacob and Quint Lane earlier. I became worried.

I saw another vision from my mother backing away from the other woman. _"Before I kill you on the spot. Who are you?"_ my mother asked the stranger.

_"Would you really kill your own daughter?"_ I was just as shocked as Mother was when I found out that the one that she was confronting was... my sibling? _I have a sister?_

_"No. That can't be. I only have one daughter."_

_"I am that one daughter. Subject 2. That's right, Mother. I am Eve, but from a different timeline. You can still call me Aurora, though."_ My vision of Mother had cut off at that point, but things started to make sense. Still, I was shocked to see that the woman in the reflection was an older me. I looked at my hands, thinking, _am I going to end up this way? _

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"Another timeline?" I questioned Aurora. "Does that mean you-"

"Traveled back in time," Aurora finished. "To rewrite several endeavors that led to my timeline's desolation." Her tone seemed to turn from the playful nature of our duel to a more serious and solemn one. Whatever happened in her time, it did not seem pretty at all. Aurora's red irises started glowing; all of a sudden, the sky illuminated an extremely blinding light. The next thing I knew, I was back at Antigen headquarters, again looking at the sight of a destroyed Budapest in burning ruins.

"This vision you're showing me... is this from your future?" I questioned her.

"You are correct," Aurora said, trying to crack a smile, but I could still tell that she was hiding her true feelings inside. "After the death of Jacob Lane, Antigen scrambled to try to cover up the fact that Lycans ran the organization, but they were eventually exposed as they had become rogue without a leader. On September 19th, 2025, Russia launched an experimental weapon called the Immortal Bomb on Budapest; a weapon intended to kill vampires and Lycans exclusively. You and Father were immediately killed in the explosion. David and I were out of its proximity when the bomb detonated and we went into hiding for several years as all three species went into chaos."

I remembered reading about the Immortal Bomb (labeled I-Bomb) in the news. The war in Aurora's timeline had escalated to such a state of inhumanity, even I was appalled by the act.

"It gets much worse from here," Aurora warned me. "After the destruction of Budapest, a new immortal leader emerged, quite literally from the ashes of Budapest. His name was Azazel." A silhouette of a figure in black appeared before me; his largely shadowed face and bald head covered in scars and disfigured.

* * *

_Eve's POV_

The hallway outside of my hospital cell was silent and vacant. I did not hear anything except the small sounds of my cautious footsteps. I checked the closest door next to my room to see... nothing. Just an empty room; it was not even used for storage or maintenance as would be typically seen in an office. I checked another room. Empty as the other one.

As I continued searching for my mother or the others, I started to become increasingly anxious. Every room I check, I was expecting either something to jump out and attack me, or another empty room. Was this another vision?

_Last door. _My heart was pounding and I was hesitant to continue on. I was worried if my other self was doing anything harmful to my mother after the last vision cut out. But it would be worse for me if I didn't know what was going on. I could not just stare pensively at the unopened door. I needed answers.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"He was said to have stood at ground zero when the I-Bomb went off. He had pieced himself back together and became an idol for all immortals. He despised humans for what they have done to both of the immortal species and formed a revolution." Aurora then showed me a vision of a war-torn Paris. "By uniting both vampires and Lycans to fight back against the humans." Aurora then showed a sequence of immortals relentlessly slaughtering humans, many of them being innocent or non-combatant. "Despite a request for a ceasefire from the United Nations and an offering for a peaceful conclusion to the war, Azazel ignored their demands. He viewed the humans as an inferior species that had no place on the planet and ordered every single being to be murdered so that his utopia could be complete." Aurora seemed to grow even more uncomfortable and hesitant to speak any further. "David... he was killed by Azazel when he and I protested against their cause. I had awakened my second stage of the Corvinus strain in that moment." She looked at her broken prosthetic limbs. "I've lost everyone that I loved to the Corvinus War. I had nothing to lose and went on a suicide mission to kill Azazel."

I immediately knew the outcome of Aurora's duel, looking at the scar on her left cheek and her broken prosthetic stubs.

The scenery returned to the forest. " I lost all of my limbs and had suffered from his venom in my bloodstream that day. To this day, I still wonder why I am still alive after Azazel had left me to die. All I knew was there was no way to stop him. After rebuilding myself, I created a time machine and brought myself at about a hundred years before Azazel's reign. Since then, my coven has been watching over the actions of the war, waiting for a significant juncture for us to prevent. The problem is that I do not even know the identity of who Azazel really is."

Aurora expressed lament over everything that she had to endure in her timeline. To lose her family and allies by an unstoppable, cruel force. I could not imagine how emotionally hardened she became after nearly dying from her fight with Azazel. This duel was not only a challenge for me to face what I might lose, but was also a challenge for Aurora to face what she had already lost.

"I'm really sorry that you had to go through that," I sympathized.

"All I can think of is how my coven is going to prevent Azazel from rising in this timeline," Aurora said. "Though I have come to change history, what's done to _me_ is done."

"Aurora... I want to help you," I pledged, touching Aurora's shoulder with my living hand. "Not just to stop Azazel, but because you are my daughter, regardless if you are from a different timeline."

Aurora smiled in a more kindhearted manner. "At least I'm glad to see my family alive again."

All of a sudden, I heard a voice shout, "Mother!" from a distance.

"Eve?" She came running towards me from the trail and held me.

"Mother, you're alive!" she cried in joy. The sight of my actual daughter brought warmth to my heart once again, especially after feeling a huge sense of loneliness during my duel with Aurora. I held her with my remaining hand intensely, knowing for sure that she was safe from harm's way.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

It was a very interesting sight to see my younger self clinging onto my mother. I looked at my severed arms, then back at Eve. _I don't want you to go through what I went though. _I looked into my mother's brown eyes and smiled earnestly. "Mother, I may have acted malicious towards you during our duel, but I truly mean well for you, your family, and the future when I traveled from my time. After witnessing the deaths of everyone I loved, I thought that the trauma that I have endured, and especially reminding myself of these painful memories during the duel, would make me stronger. Seeing you with my counterpart, I've come to realize again that it is your willpower and your bonds with your family and friends that have made you stronger; both as a warrior and a person."

"Aurora," Mother said as she walked towards me, touching my shoulder. "You don't have to keep lamenting about your actions. If anything, I see a resemblance of myself, trying to find my way after abandoning my coven."

I chuckled. "Like mother, like daughter. I guess I am also as cold as one that is already dead," she said, repeating the same line that Eve had initially said to me.

* * *

_Eve's POV_

_Aurora. So you are the woman I could possibly become. _She was bloodied and wounded with both of her prosthetic arms severed. From the torn look of both her and my mother, they both had went all out in their battle. I could not help but look at my own hands. _How far have you gone to become the person you turned out to be?_

* * *

_Selene's POV_

Just as I felt entranced by the sudden warmth that was brought to my heart by the new bond I had with Aurora, I saw a Lycan stop next to Eve, carrying a large briefcase before returning to his human form. "Lady Aurora, are you alright? You've been injured." He unlocked the briefcase, revealing an extra set of prosthetic limbs to replace Aurora's broken ones.

"It's nothing much, Nikolai. You know I've had worse," Aurora shrugged off the fact that she lost both of her arms and was stabbed about a dozen times.

"Milady, the human has entered Rosethorn Trails as we speak."

_Mathieu,_ I thought.

Aurora smiled. "I can't wait to see what he has in store," she wondered.

I suddenly felt my chest being pierced once again by Aurora's wing talon. I looked back to see Eve impaled as well with Aurora's other blade-like wing. "What are you doing?" Eve shouted.

"This is something that I have to deal with myself," Aurora replied. She closed her eyes, smiling again. "For now, you two should get some rest." She swung both of us from her talon, sending us flying... back to the hospital room where I had found myself in. Aurora then closed the door using one of her talons.

"Hold on!" I shouted, scrambling to stand up. But when I opened the door, instead of seeing the forest, I found the hallway of the hospital. _You're still playing some mind games with me..._

"Mom, do you really think you can trust Aurora?" Eve questioned.

I did not know if I could trust Aurora entirely. Despite appearing sympathetic because of what she had to endure with the loss of us in her time, it felt jarring to see her playful personality clash with a solemn one when she spoke of her experiences. It's almost like seeing a split personality. In the end, though, "She's gone through a lot of terrible things. Knowing that she is you from the future, what choice do we have?"

"I mean we had a moment to bond with her and the next moment, she stabbed us," Eve added.

"I guess that's the way she is," I hypothesized. "I could definitely relate to her; when your sole occupation is killing Lycans for six centuries, these experiences can profoundly shape who you are, even to this day. Besides, I'm pretty sure getting stabbed is merely the equivalent of getting a scratch at this point."

Just as we continued pondering on Aurora, the door opened to reveal a bearded, long-haired man walking towards me. "Lucian..."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Work and other errands have been taking quite a toll on me lately. Hope you've enjoyed what you have read so far and kept this fanfic in your radar!**


	12. Lucidity

_Chapter 12: Lucidity  
Two minutes earlier  
Mathieu's POV_

"Fucking hell," I said to myself as I woke up in a random hospital room. _Am I having the same fucking experience that Kingmaker and Reaper faced years ago? _Except that, unlike the two, I remembered everything that happened when I was at Rosethorn Trails from the moment I woke up, to walking with Selene's family, to meeting that mysterious red-haired woman. _I need nicotine._

I got out of the bed, surprisingly feeling as good, hell, even better than before, despite taking two syringes of synthetic adrenaline and getting pummeled by a red-eyed soldier. I looked in the mirror to see my face as clean as an infant's. I recall that I was bleeding in the forehead during the skirmish, but there were not any scabs or even a faint scar. Even some scars I had from previous SIAF missions were absent! _This is abnormal. Did that woman turn me into a vampire, Lycan, or whatever the hell she was?_ I shrugged that off, especially considering that when I confronted Michael in his brute form, I felt like I could take on a hundred Lycans at once, and I was not feeling the side effects of the adrenaline inside me. This was really strange, though.

I needed a cigarette to compose myself. I checked the cabinets only to see nothing but spare hospital robes, socks, and a combat dagger. _Not even a fucking nicotine patch or gum?_ I opened the door to find myself... back at what I believed to be the same trail where so much shit happened at once. "This has to be a fucking dream."

* * *

_Selene's POV_

Two medics walked in behind Lucian; one of them carried a large bag with a coat-hanger sticking out from the top, the other had a large medical kit. "Just lay there on the bed and my medical assistants will tend to your injuries," Lucian said.

"Just tell me, how are you still alive?" I asked as I lay myself back into the bed while the two medics started to overlook my destroyed prosthetic.

"Who is this man?" Eve asked me. "You seem to know him."

"He was the leader of the Lycans before you were born," I explained to her. "He had been marginalized by the vampire Elder at the time, Viktor, who had condemned Sonja, his own daughter and Lucian's lover, to death when she was revealed to be carrying a Hybrid child. He is the reason your father is now a hybrid."

"I died by the hands of Kraven, or so you think?" Lucian said. "When we had captured Michael, who had become a full-fledged Lycan at the time, I injected his blood into mine, gaining me the Corvinus Strain. Raze arrived with samples of Amelia's blood and the rest is history. Even if the vampires were to eliminate Michael, we would have other Hybrids as a backup plan. Now," he paused as he looked towards Eve, "it seems like Hybrids have become the _norm_ with the fear of Azazel's uprising."

_Speaking of Hybrids,_ "Where is Michael and the others?" I asked Lucian. "What happened to them?"

"The good news is that they are in our facility safe and sound after our skirmish," Lucian assured. "All of them only suffered minor injuries and are expected to make a quick recovery."

Eve and I felt relieved, knowing that Michael had not done that much harm to my family and friends. Until Lucian told me grimly, "Except for Michael," I gulped at the thought of how much harm has been done to him. "When he was in Hybrid form under the second stage, his entire body was sustaining injuries from the inside. He's under care by our medical experts to repair the damage done to himself, but it will be awhile before he tries to go back to combat." I knew that Michael seemed to act like he was hurting when he was acting aggressively that day. Lucian had basically confirmed it. I could not imagine how much pain he was feeling, even compared to my own injuries.

* * *

_Eve's POV_

A part of me felt like my father deserved the indirectly self-inflicted injuries as karma after hurting my mom. At the same time, I still wondered if what happened was all his fault. If there was any sense that he was aware of his actions? Regardless, it is difficult to see the gentle man my father seemed to be without seeing that he could transform into that beast.

I started to also look at myself and started comparing myself to Aurora again. Like my father in both human and his second-stage Hybrid forms, it was like I was seeing the opposite of who I was, and who _he_ was. How far could my family change in this war? How much pain must we endure to see closure?

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

My eyesight was unusually sharper than when we had fought the immortals earlier. It felt like watching a Blu-ray movie rather than a standard-definition DVD. I could even see some small scratches or marks on the trees as I walked, even some smaller details such as seeing a small caterpillar walk along a branch. If I checked my eyesight at a eye clinic, I would not be surprised if it was at a perfect 20/20. Fuck, I'm pretty sure that I could see even sharper.

My breathing was a lot better than before. I usually smoked about a half of a pack of Marlboro 100s a day and felt like I needed to breath heavier than usual after a lot of physical activity, but I almost felt uninhibited. I might as well smoke a fucking carton of these cancer sticks and still carry on without feeling like I was going to die.

My hearing was not the best after having my ears exposed to explosions, gunfire, and the like during my missions. But my hearing was never as sharp as it was at this moment. I could hear exceptionally high frequencies. Something as light as wind felt as detailed as an orchestral arrangement, as if the ambience of the area was singing to me.

I was getting more and more convinced that this woman had turned me into an immortal. In addition to my senses and my overall health, I decided to test my strength by stopping at a tree. I threw a punch at the bark.

Creating a gaping hole.

_How will I explain this to my superiors?_

"You definitely are an amusing one." I recognized that voice behind me and turned around to see that damn woman again, lunging at me with her red dagger at an inhuman speed. I instantly blocked her attack with my own knife. I was surprised by my own reflexes, having blocked such a quick attack.

I backed several yards to gain some distance. The woman's dress was torn, bloody, and ripped, particularly around the chest area where it seemed like she had sustained multiple stab wounds. Her kindred smile was almost terrifying, knowing the possible powers that she had. I also had a feeling that she had run into Selene and the others, judging from her bloodied look. "Okay, who are you and what the fuck is going on?" I questioned her, keeping my guard up from another possible attack from her.

"I see you have survived my first test despite remaining human," she said politely, throwing off her red, outer cloak. Her remaining attire consisted of a red long dress that extended down to her feet. The sleeves were long and loose, likely so that her prosthetic arms would have more mobility and articulation. I could tell that once she removed her cloak, she really intended to fight me at full force. "I want to see how strong you are, Mathieu." She ran at me again, knife ready in her left hand, and attempted another attack, but I blocked it again.

I was convinced that I had been turned. I did not know if I was a vampire, Lycan, or Hybrid at that point, but I knew that what I was doing was obviously beyond human capacity.

"You saved me from Michael, but here you are trying to kill me!" I admonished as I kept her blade locked with mine. "Who really are you and what are your intentions?"

"The name's Aurora. I'm just someone who wants to know how powerful those who have the Corvinus strain are," she explained. "You are one of them. Another direct descendant of Alexander Corvinus, the first true immortal."

"You've gotta be shitting me!" I retorted as we clashed blades again. "So I am like Selene and the others? An immortal like them?"

"Correct," Aurora confirmed.

"You must have turned me when I was knocked out!"

Aurora chuckled. "Not quite. You've had this gene for your entire life. All that has happened is that you've awakened your hidden powers when you tried to fight my father. You're not a vampire, a Lycan, or even a Hybrid; you're a pure immortal."

_Fuck me._

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

I was surprised to see that Mathieu had started to get accustom to his new abilities rather quickly. Lucian was correct; he was almost on par with me in our blade-work and he could potentially rival Azazel, despite his young age and inexperience (albeit with rigorous human training during his service with SIAF). He was slightly weaker than when I had fought my mother, who had just awakened the second stage of the Corvinus strain, but her case was out of pure rage while Mathieu was on the defensive.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

The medics attached a new prosthetic replacement to the neural stub on my right arm. I got off the bed as soon as they were done. "According to a dossier that I collected, you were a member of a Lycan pack that was captured by Antigen," I noted as I started fidgeting with my new arm. "I found out that the Lycans have been running that company in secret, so why would they capture their most ancient and trusted leader?"

"Being assumed dead can psychologically twist a group into chaos," Lucian answered. "I was left in a catatonic state for two months. That was when both the vampires and Lycans were discovered. Without leaders to guide them, they became misguided. That was when Jacob Lane had stepped in the picture, attempting to appeal to the humans to help the Lycans rebuild. Raze, Nikolai, Kristian, and I were deemed enemies because we condemned their actions for continuing this war."

"And then you met up with Aurora and escaped," Eve assumed.

"Aurora wants to gather an arsenal of immortals who are willing to prevent Azazel's reign at all costs," Lucian said. "Especially those who have inherited the Corvinus strain."

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

Aurora kept on the offensive while I kept blocking each and every one of her attacks. Her strikes hit like a fucking tank and after about ten minutes in, she has not shown any sign of weariness at all. "You're holding back," Aurora observed, as I was playing defensive throughout the duel. "That's no fun."

She was right. I was restraining myself from doing anything brash to her. She did not seem like an enemy, but she kept on pressing on with the apparent intent to kill me. I was waiting for her to tire, but it was obviously not working, as if Aurora had infinite stamina. _I'd hate to hurt a woman, but she seemed unafraid of me harming her.  
_

Aurora made a sharp lunge for my chest, but instead of blocking it with my dagger, I dodged to the side then took the quick moment to stab her left forearm, forcing her to let go of her blade as her arm was rendered useless. Then, I aimed my dagger for her chest; Aurora quickly grabbed my wrist with her remaining, functioning hand, but I was able to lay a stab wound about six inches deep into her chest. Aurora gasped in an almost horrific expression, shocked that I, a human who had just discovered his new powers, had laid the first cuts on her. "Oh my god, what have I done?" I shouted, though I still did not know if she was a friend or foe.

Suddenly, Aurora started laying her hand on mine. Her initial shock turned into a subtle smile of gratification, and forcefully plunged the knife _even deeper_ inside her chest. She seemed to enjoy the feeling in an increasingly sadomasochistic way. She kicked me away from her, forcing me to release the dagger.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

During my spar sessions with Lucian and other members of my coven, I only used a small fraction of my powers to have them fight on par with me since they were not able to awaken the second stage of the strain without the burden of emotions. After multiple sessions, my soldiers would gain my respect if they were able to leave even a small mark on my body. To see that Mathieu had already stabbed me fairly deeply in the chest on our first duel, I was impressed. I could just end this duel the moment he had wounded me, but I wanted more from him.

I removed the weapon from my chest; the blood on it solidifying around the blade. I detached my useless left arm from the neural connector on my amputated stub. "My turn," I sang as I casually spun the dagger around like a wheel and lunged towards Mathieu.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

I put on an ancient, black combat dress that Lucian supplied me. The catsuit that I wore before then did not seem like a good fit for my prosthetic, so I was provided an alternative with looser sleeves. "But why has Aurora summoned us _now_ rather than twelve years ago when Michael and I were captured by Antigen?" I complained. "Surely she could have told us about this looming threat beforehand, giving us _thirteen_ years to prepare instead of _one!_"

"Aurora may be eccentric in her motives," Lucian admitted, "but the reason is because at this state, you have so much to worry about. She wanted to take your family in while you were under extreme stress from being frozen for twelve years. You have strong emotional connections to your family; such intense emotions for them, _such fears of losing them_, can trigger the second stage of the Corvinus strain to awaken."

I looked at the mirror again, looking at my new red eyes. "Mom?" Eve observed as my irises returned to their original brown color. I looked at her. _Eve, I could not imagine how you would have felt to be raised in isolation before I met you. Even after being in the comfort of your family, you have even more things to worry about; the hurt Michael inadvertently brought upon to me and himself, and the possibility of an immortal even stronger than anything I have faced so far. Aurora is literally what could become of you if such fears would surface to reality._

"Only you, Michael, Aurora, and Azazel have ever achieved this form," Lucian explained. "Others were unable to due to our lack of emotional connections towards others, including myself. I still remember losing Sonja; how immoral Viktor was for condemning his own daughter to death; how we could have lived a life away from his empire. But it has been too late for me to activate the second stage since I never had the Corvinus strain until many years later. Our abilities are only augmented by Aurora sharing her powers with others, as evidenced during our skirmish with our undead soldiers."

Azazel had apparently awakened the second stage after being in the center of a nuclear explosion. Aurora after losing David. Me after being torn apart by my own lover and seeing a vision of my family dead. "What about Michael? When he awakened the second stage, he went on a blind rampage, killing _anything_ that was alive. In my case, I still had control of myself. On top of that, there seems to be no particular reason that Michael would awaken that form that easily."

"Antigen were performing special experiments on him in particular," Lucian replied. "I know that Eve was used to mass-produce the Corvinus strain to other Lycans. Michael was intended to be a bioweapon to be used against the humans and the remaining vampires."

"And why didn't you or Aurora stop this from happening?" Eve shouted, growing frustrated, knowing that Aurora's coven knew he was out of control in Aurora's timeline, but kept him this way in this timeline.

"As Aurora mentioned to you before, it was a test to create a dividing line between you and him, so that you can reunite stronger than ever."

I looked at my mechanical hand, then the scar on my left shoulder. How far down has Michael gone? Was there any semblance of what he was before he turned into this monster? "Where are the others?" I asked Lucian. "Particularly, where's Michael."

"I will direct you to the rooms of David and Michael," Lucian told me.

"What about Mathieu?" Eve asked.

"Mathieu is currently in confrontation with Aurora," Lucian replied. "He carries the same strain as Michael does, only that it is untainted from the blood of either vampire or Lycan."

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

I dodged Aurora's strike to my chest and kicked her wrist, forcing her to release the dagger. Aurora instantly retaliated, punched me in the face with such strength that I felt like my skull was going to disintegrate as I was forced into a tree. I was surprised that I endured it with only my lip and forehead bleeding with the impact being only as superficial as falling off a tipping chair. It seemed like Aurora was really holding back initially, waiting for me to wound her. As I looked at the aura of blood that surrounded her and the almost sadistic look on her face, it seemed like hurting her had made her even stronger.

_Seems like the next step is to dismember her other arm, then she'll stop._ Judging from Aurora's actions, she seemed to favor using her left hand more, which I had destroyed. She didn't seem to be ambidextrous because she didn't have time to stop me before I stabbed her. _It's going to be difficult now that she has stepped up her game, not that she was already a fucking force to be reckoned with._

I dodged one of her punches and tried to encircle my arms around her arm to try to rip it off, but I felt a large, sharp object puncture through my chest and lift me ten feet in the air... by one of her fucking wings! _Fuck me, I'm just a pawn in her fucking game!_ I thought as she swung me through three trees.

_I can't find a weakness!_ "Just give me a break, you fuck!" I shouted at her as I stood back up; my chest wound quickly healing despite expecting it to kill me.

"Then hurt me," Aurora countered as her wings retracted into her back. "The knife is not three feet from you." I looked at my right side to see the blood-coated dagger.

I knew that Aurora was now toying with me, wanting me to strike her so that she could lead me to her trap. I eyed both Aurora and the knife, hoping that I could pick up the knife before she could intercept. "I've only got one arm; this is not even my dominant limb. Take that knife and strike me down, unless you're too scared to fight," Aurora taunted. "It got your brother killed."

I was instantly triggered when Aurora mentioned Tim and dashed for the dagger. I didn't care if Aurora was luring me into a trap; I didn't even care how the hell she knew about my brother; I was fucking infuriated by her comment. Aurora dashed towards my location with a red wrist blade on her right prosthetic, but I dodged her attack as she struck the ground. I took the moment to slice the left side of her lower torso open as I rolled away.

I stood up to survey Aurora, who slowly rose up as well, vomiting blood from the wound I had just inflicted. "Don't you mention Tim!" I shouted.

Aurora laughed again. "You're just scared to admit that his loss was from your mistakes."

"Shut up!" I shouted, lunging at her again. Aurora attempted to dodge, but was too slow as I left another mark on her stomach. Aurora then sprouted one of her wing talons again and attempted to stab me again, but I quickly dodged her attack and planted myself behind her, leaving a stab wound in her back, which exited at the right side of her chest. As I removed the blade, Aurora fell face first onto the dirt.

Everything suddenly became silent as Aurora lay motionless. I could not tell if I had just killed her; I'm pretty sure she could take much more than just a few injuries. I did not think that she intended to kill me; more or less, it was almost like she was training me or toying with me. What the hell was she intending? Did she decide to fight immortals like Selene, Michael, David, Eve, and me for sport? Or was there another, more deeper reason.

I took a couple of steps back from her body, aware that she could impale me again with one of her talons. "Behind you," I heard a soft voice whisper to me from behind me. I instantly turned back to see Aurora attempt to stab me with her dagger, but I blocked it with my own. _There's two of her?_ I initially thought, until I looked at the body; a completely different person that I had just wounded. _Of fucking course._

"I'm surprised you intercepted by attack," Aurora complimented. "This duel is getting more and more exciting every minute."

"Yeah, you're excited, but I'm not," I told her. "I just want to know what the fuck is going on. Are you a friend of ours, or an enemy?"

"Now, now, it's less motivating to fight me if I just spoon-fed you all of the answers," Aurora said. "After all, the truth can lead to your downfall."

"How poetic," I said sarcastically. "What are you, some fucking hipster?" _Huh. Might as well be wearing a fedora and thick-rimmed glasses._

Aurora laughed. "That's a new insult."

"Can you just fucking tell me?" I asked her, being a little bit infuriated.

"Hurt me first," Aurora said. "But I know you're hesitant to harm a woman. You lack the audacity and got your brother killed. How many more lives are you going to risk as the war rages on?"

I was triggered again. Aurora was mocking me and I was both annoyed and offended by what she constantly bickered to me about. "Fuck you!" I clashed by blade with hers, breaking the blade her dagger. Aurora took a step back to gain distance, but I was faster as I impaled her in the chest again, forcing her to drop to the floor hard on her back as the blade exited out of her back and planted on the ground.

"Now that's the fight I've been wanting from you," Aurora said as she headbutted my forehead, forcing me to let go of the dagger and removing my weight from her. "I've never been this excited since my duel with Azazel." Aurora removed the dagger from her chest and stood up. I could tell that I'm in for a prolonged world of hurt.

* * *

_Aurora's POV_

Mathieu's powers seemed to amplify when under increasing emotional stress, especially when I started taunting him about his brother. Though he showed no signs of transformation due to not having either the vampire and/or Lycan viruses in his bloodstream (he never was seen to have red irises; the most defining trait for a user of the second-stage Corvinus Strain), his powers seem to come as natural for him; he could have the potential to best me in bladework.

* * *

**A/N (Overdramatically): How will Mathieu get used to living as an immortal? What will Selene and Eve think when they see Michael again? Tune in for the next chapter to find out!**

**Holy fuck, this was a long one (4,239 words). Sorry for the wait, I did not expect it to take as long as it did with work and other errands plaguing my free time. And I know that this arc of the fanfic can be confusing and hard to follow, especially with the schizophrenic character of Aurora, the overall slow pace of this arc, and the concept of time travel, but I hope things will get more clear as the story progresses (though it still can get confusing).**


	13. Encased

**A/N: Finally, we get to see Selene's family and friends reunite once more. However, things are not what they seem. How will their reunion with Michael be, knowing that he had hurt Selene and alienated his family?**

* * *

_Chapter 13: Encased  
David's POV_

I lay in a hospital bed with my eyes glued to the fluorescent, white lights, wondering where the hell I was. I remember trying to run away from a berserk Michael with a badly wounded Selene in my arms; the next thing I knew was seeing two muscular men clubbing me with the butt of a rifle. So many things were on my mind the moment I woke up; where is Selene and her family? What happened to Mathieu? Who were those immortals that were attacking us? And how did Michael lose control of himself?

My train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the door to my cell opening. "David?" I felt an immediate feeling of relief when Selene and Eve popped through the doorway along with a long-haired, bearded man, who I had recognized from the archives as Lucian. I had less to worry about, knowing both of them were still alive.

"You two are alive!" I walked out of bed and gave both of them a hug. "I was very worried about both of you. I didn't think we would still be alive after what happened."

"Unfortunately, it's the calm before the next storm here," Lucian added.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

Aurora was having the time of her life, enjoying her duel with me. Though I had wounded her a couple of more times, she was showing no signs of wearing out. I had to admit, I was also enjoying the fight as well. I had never been so excited since some of the more intense missions in SIAF. But the difference was that she enjoyed fighting for the sake of fighting; I was fighting to get some answers, but enjoying the new abilities from being an immortal.

Aurora knocked my dagger away from my hand; now it had become a hand-to-hand brawl. Though Aurora had one arm, she and I were evenly matched in raw abilities. I could not imagine fighting her with both of her limbs at an unrestrained power. I still had a hunch that she was still not even using the full extent of her powers.

"I've gotta admit, you're even stronger than Michael," Aurora complimented. "I've been training with this power for about one-hundred years, and yet, you're on par with me in just _an hour._ I can't imagine how powerful you will be once you truly master your skills."

I chuckled. "I guess it's a natural talent." I rushed towards her and punched her in the face. Aurora immediately countered by grasping me by the neck and lifting me effortlessly. I felt her tight grip squeezing whatever air was left in my lungs. I grasped her wrist, but I could already feel my strength fading.

"I still haven't even used the full extent of my powers," Aurora grimly told me.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"I'll have to admit, I've had similar intentions in trying to get my coven to be strong and face the humans," David confessed after hearing what we had to say, "that we could stand up and show our strength towards them. I never thought that this Azazel person could use it to an extreme; killing _every single _human, even those who show support towards both Lycan and vampire species."

"Believe me, I wish that all three species would stop fighting each other while an undiscovered evil grows in secret," Lucian lamented. "The war that they are fighting has been a lost cause."

"If that's the case, _everyone _should be uniting to fight this dangerous target," Eve expressed.

"The problem is that all species share great pride in themselves," Lucian argued. "They _wish_ to be divided despite opportunities for a middle ground between all three species. Before the Cleansing, the war between the vampires and Lycans was already a lost cause to begin with. The vampires and Lycans were _perfectly fine_ without the need to feed off humans; but the humans share the collective mentality that everyone in both Immortal species is a threat, regardless if they had posed harm to their species or not before their discovery. If we keep on believing that our original ways of thinking will keep us afloat throughout the changing years, someone will exploit that weakness."

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

I fell to my knees after a series of attacks from Aurora, who had shown even more power that she had previously withheld. I was bloodied and bruised, only barely standing since I had the ability to heal quickly. _If this keeps up, I'll be a fucking vegetable._

"It's no fun if you keep staying on the defensive," Aurora taunted. "Tim is bawling in his grave."

_Great, more fucking insults._ Except that I did not feel the urge to carry on anymore; I was fatigued while Aurora was merely a powerhouse. She grabbed me by the neck again. "Just stop already," I begged.

Aurora smiled. "I just want you to prepare for what's to come soon."

"Well why don't you just tell me then? You've fucking defeated me already, so there's no point in fighting me, unless you want to fucking kill me."

Aurora, out of nowhere, suddenly kissed me with her bloody lips whilst subtly coughing up blood into my mouth.

She threw me with tremendous strength, sending me flying _through a door and into the fucking hallway _of the same hospital-like setting I had woken up in. "Oh, and thanks for the cigarettes," she said, closing the door on me.

_What the bloody fuck?_ Aurora was very mysterious in her intentions. The way she dueled me; she acted with intentions to test my new-found immortal powers, but fought as if she wanted to kill me. When I wounded her several times, it seemed like she _enjoyed_ getting hurt in an almost sexual manner, to the point where she was further motivated to fight me.

And that (literally) bloody kiss she gave me. I already felt violated by that alone, but moments after she vomited blood into my throat, I started seeing visions from her perspective. Horrific visions. After experiencing her memories in very photographic detail; the fact that she is Eve from the future, the slaughter of innocent humans, and her brutal defeat at the hands of some fuck named Azazel. No wonder she's turned from an innocent girl into a sadistic woman, who I still could not tell if she was a friend or foe.

And she fucking stole my Marlboros. The withdrawals I was having were not helping.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

We were all reluctant to see Michael again. The nerves around my prosthetic as well as the metal in my left shoulder bone started to jolt, being a constant reminder of what he had done to me.

Of everyone, Eve was the one that was most reluctant to see her father. She stood behind David, hardly looking at the door that Michael was kept in. She was worried if we were going to encounter the more good-natured Michael, or the one that had no control of himself.

I just wished all of this madness was just a fucking dream from the moment Michael lost control to this new looming threat of Azazel. All of us wished it was a dream.

I had a feeling Michael would feel this way too.

"Room 103," Lucian announced Michael's cell number. "He has been restrained and stabilized after the injuries he had endured." Lucian looked down, looking as distraught as we all were. Distraught that his experiment would turn horribly wrong. It almost seemed as if he was regretful for what he had done.

I slowly opened the door to glance at Michael laying with a large coffin-like box trapping his entire body except for part of his shoulders and head. His skin was slightly reddened, apparently from his injuries. Though he was asleep, he looked very discomforted.

Everyone kept their distance as I walked closer. With each step, the more I was reminded of the mistake I made, trying to comfort him in his berserk state. The pain in my arm and shoulder started to hurt the more I inched closer to Michael. Even though he was locked in a full-body restraint, I felt like he could rip himself out and attack me again. I could be on par with him, knowing that I could use the second-stage of the Corvinus strain, but against the one I love? The one that meant a lot to me in the height of this war?

"Michael?" I whispered softly. He slowly opened his blue eyes and moved his head subtly. _Not seeing red, that's a good start._ Still, I was cautious.

"Selene?" Michael said weakly. "Wh-where am I?"

He seemed very clueless and disoriented; I had a hunch that he did not remember attacking his own family during the skirmish in Rosethorn. "Michael?"

"What happened?" Michael asked. "All I remember is that we were fighting those immortals and then, I woke up here-" His eyes took a glimpse at my mechanical hand. "Jesus Christ! Your hand!"

I was right; he did not remember anything from when he was in his second-stage Hybrid form. He did not remember ripping off my right arm and wounding my shoulder. He did not remember attacking his own family and friends. I did not want to tell him the truth; I felt that he would feel truly guilty for what he had done. In hindsight, I should have brought some gloves with me to cover my prosthetic limb, but I was not certain what kind of reaction he would make if he remembered hurting us or not. I looked at Lucian, Eve, and David for a brief moment; Lucian and David looked stern, and I had a feeling that Michael would have to learn the truth sooner or later. Eve continued to cower.

"We...we were greatly outnumbered and one of them tore off my arm," I hesitantly tried to lie.

"Who did it?" Michael questioned me, acting more agitated and sitting back up again, despite his injuries. "Who harmed you?" Suddenly, he started coughing hard.

Part of me wanted to just tell Michael the truth as he started to get worked up, especially considering the warning signs of anger had previously led to his blind rage before. "Just don't worry. Just as long as I'm here, you need not to worry."

"It's just that I don't want to see you hurt like that," Michael explained.

"You've been through a lot," I told him. "Just calm down. You're in a worse condition that I am right now." I started to tear up, knowing that Michael was back to the person that I loved.

"Selene, y-you look sad."

"I'm just glad that we're all alive after this horrible battle," I said, trying to hold up the uncomfortable feelings of seeing him in his second form. I wanted to think about the Michael I knew more.

Michael observed Lucian from the doorway. "I thought you were dead."

"Remember that I injected your blood into mine," Lucian reminded him. "Then I was injected with Amelia's blood."

"I guess you were too stubborn to lose this war," Michael chuckled.

* * *

_Michael's POV_

The last battle that we fought was an absolute mess from what I remembered before I was knocked out. I was a little appalled to see that Selene had lost her arm in that fight. Still, I could not help but feel like there was something more than what was being told. Lucian, David, and Eve stood near the doorway as if they were planning an intervention for me, keeping their distance from me while Selene had been trying to comfort me as best as she could. Probably more than usual, actually.

As I tried to survey the situation, I started having visions of being strapped to an operating table with multiple medics giving me multiple injections into my blood while two surgeons operated on me. I was apparently awake at the time without any anesthetic to sedate me. I remembered hearing myself scream as the surgeons started cutting me open. In fact, I could almost feel how painful it was. I saw the surgeons implanting mechanical devices into my torso.

The visions cut to when I was laying in my cell, strapped by the same box I was imprisoned in. A woman in red appeared before me. "The pain is difficult, isn't it?" she said to me, crouching down and putting her mechanical arms around the encasement. "Just remember that no matter how many injuries you endure, it will be nothing compared to the emotional turmoil that follows." She closed her eyes and smiled. "I'm pretty sure you'll find out what that means soon... Father."

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"Michael?"

"I... I just saw a vision," Michael explained. "That woman in red... what the fuck really happened to me?"

Lucian walked closer. "A reaction in your blood has caused severe internal damage throughout your body. We've encased you here so that you don't have any physical strain."

"So I guess I'm out for a while," Michael groaned.

Lucian and I both nodded.

"Lucian, you seem to be the one who knows most what is going on," Michael said to him. "Who were those immortals that we fought back at Rosethorn?"

"I'm a member of Aurora's coven, who sought to destroy a single man named Azazel," Lucian explained. "The soldiers you fought were reanimated corpses that Aurora controlled."

"Is that the same woman that appeared in my visions?"

"In fact, she is Eve from the future," I added. "She came back in time to prevent a tragedy from happening."

Michael was surprised. Judging from his confusion, it seemed like he was thinking about how much different Aurora was from Eve as I had thought. I was not sure if Michael had ever seen the more twisted side of her; I doubt that he had gone truly face-to-face with her, especially as he was too injured. "This war is getting more twisted and twisted as it goes on," he commented.

"Tell me something I don't know," I agreed.

"I've got to get going," Lucian told us. "Aurora must have finished her duel with Mathieu by now." He looked at Michael. "I'm expected to meet with her afterwards to report on your condition."

As Lucian left, I moved closer to Michael, putting my arms on his encasement. "Michael, I just want to say that since I've met you, I've felt like I've been liberated. I know a lot of people want us dead, but you were always there in my time of need, as I was with you. The war may have become worse, but I've always held onto hope when I'm with you, even when you were on the brink of death. But there is something that you probably don't want to hear," I warned him as I slowly tugged the collar of my dress, revealing the large scar on my left shoulder. "In addition to losing my arm, I had to get a prosthetic shoulder bone replacement after the battle we fought in Rosethorn."

"Jesus Christ! Who could have done this?" Michael asked me, almost completely missing the point that I was hinting at. When I said, 'the battle we fought in Rosethorn', I was truly referring to how he had become my enemy for that brief moment. "Was it one of Aurora's soldiers? Why would she-?"

"Michael." I needed to get this off my chest so that he would finally know. "It was _you_ that hurt me."


	14. Detriment

_Chapter 14: Detriment  
Selene's POV_

Michael's eyes widened when I revealed what he had blindly done to us. I knew exactly what he was initially thinking. _Did I really do this?_ he could have probably thought. _Why? Why would I do something so terrible?_ "Please tell me that this is wrong." Michael was in denial. Though he did not remember what happened, we all saw what he had done to me.

"I'm sorry, but we've witnessed it too," David added. "You transformed into a more twisted version of that Hybrid form of yours and lost control of yourself. You were savagely beating immortals and blindly viewed _anything and everything_ that moved as an enemy. You had absolutely no realization, no remorse that it was Selene that you attacked. We felt like it was the end when you pursued us."

With David and Eve bearing witness to what happened, Michael became anxious and upset. "Tell me you are lying. This can't be true!"

I nodded my head in lament. "I'm sorry, Michael."

* * *

_Michael's POV_

It was no wonder that everyone appeared before me acting solemn and concerned. I had to face it; though I remembered _absolutely nothing_ from the skirmish against Aurora's immortal soldiers to waking up here, I could no longer deny that I had truly harmed my own family. I started to fear myself; though I was currently unable to fight due to my injuries, I questioned what would happen if I were to be in combat again? After all, the reason I was caught in this war was to become a powerful immortal to fight whatever tyranny that will worsen this war. I was practically Selene's tank before we were taken by Antigen.

Now, I had become a detriment to my own family and friends. I grew insecure; how will I be able to control myself when I do transform into a Hybrid? Will I end up in a worse position for both myself and harm my family even more?

Selene seemed to be the most compassionate one in the room, despite being the one who took the worst end of the punishment. She was far more worried than angry. Still, the guilt that I felt made it almost unbearable to even catch a glimpse of her.

* * *

_Lucian's POV_

"Lady Aurora, we hope your duels with Selene and Mathieu have been satisfactory," I welcomed back alongside Raze and Nikolai.

Aurora walked in, bloodied from her past two duels. Her red dress was torn and she left a small trail of blood. "Never thought that my mother and Mathieu would be nearly on par with me," she said. "Lucian, update me on my father's condition."

"He's stabilized, milady," I told her. "He's currently meeting up with the family."

"You look like you've been through hell," Nikolai commented.

Aurora spat blood onto the ground. "Stabbed multiple times in the chest with a venom-coated blade, three dismembered arms, damage to my left leg, and moderate damage to my internal organs and implants," she reported completely straight. "Another day in the office. Although, I have to admit my duel with Mathieu in particular had... a little charm."

"Shall I proceed with maintenance and surgery as you planned?" Nikolai questioned.

"Absolutely."

"No anesthetic?"

"No anesthetic," Aurora answered, smiling.

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

I did not know how long I sat across this goddamn lonely hallway. I did not know how long I had been in this hell hole that this schizophrenic psychopath, Aurora, governed. Where was my squadmate Larry Garza? Was he in the same place that he was four years ago? If it was days since we were taken by Aurora, how has SIAF been involved in me being MIA? How will they think of me, knowing that I'm now an immortal? Sure, I'm not a vampire or a Lycan, but it will hard for them to accept me. I guess I have been transferred again.

Aurora had transmitted some of her memories to me via her blood, but the way I see them were as incoherent as a screenplay for an Uwe Boll film. Her visions were almost nightmarish, as if I was watching a surreal horror film.

I saw the aftermath of her duel with Azazel, as she crawled out of the battlefield with all of her limbs severed and her torso mangled from her opponent's attacks before she saw a silhouette of a person.

The next thing I knew, I saw her dueling someone who seemed to be one of the soldiers in her coven; she was particularly sadomasochistic, even more so than she was during her duel with me. Despite her opponent holding his own, Aurora kept taunting him. _Where is your will,_ she said in a malicious tone. _You're merely a detriment if you don't stand up._

The final flashback was particularly disturbing. I saw Aurora alone in a room, naked, and covered in freshly-cut, self-inflicted scars all around anything that was not a prosthetic limb. _They must know pain if they want to live,_ I heard her say to herself._ Mother, Father, David, they all died because they hardly understood it. I don't want them to die again. I need to save them... they need to feel pain...  
_

From what I could gather, Aurora was truly emotionally unstable, deeply traumatized after her duel with Azazel. I was surprised she had not attempted or considered suicide. It was a lot worse than what I had initially imagined and I started to understand her motives a bit more. As of this moment, she is one of the strongest immortals alive and she owed it all to the suffering that she endured in her timeline. The reason she lashed out her pain towards others was because she wanted them to be stronger that way.

I felt like I was in for a world of hurt from Aurora. And I felt like a particular target for her from when I had first met her up until now.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

Michael's eyes started to tear up as he tried to avoid eye contact with me. "This isn't right, Selene; you shouldn't be so forgiving," he said to me with notable angst in his tone. "If anything, I should be dead for what I've done."

"Michael-"

"I mean, you escaped me without an arm and a broken shoulder," Michael continued, trying to put a lot of blame on himself. "You've never experienced such grievous injuries throughout your life, especially as an experienced Death Dealer. And I'm the one fucking responsible."

"I don't think there's anything you could have done," I told him. "You were experimented on by Antigen; the Michael that injured me - that is _not_ him. But the one I'm talking to right now; the one that I saw at the subway during the shootout; the one that saved me from drowning in a car accident, the sun, and from Marcus and William - that is the Michael I know."

"And he'll be gone again once this happens again," Michael cynically stated. "I don't know if I can ever fight again. I feel completely useless now; what if you are overwhelmed by an enemy? I can't save you if I transform again - I'll just fuck everything up."

He had a point. If he went into battle again, he would end up as bad, if not, worse off than he was right now. I wanted to deny it, but he had become no more useful than a civilian at that point, a wounded soldier about to be discharged from a military. Still, I did not want to abandon him. "Maybe I can find a solution. We just need to find out the specifics of what Antigen did to you; they could have documents on your condition, an antidote or failsafe in case anything went awry, anything that could reverse the changes that they've done."

Michael chuckled subtly. "You still have hope for me. Still, I can't forget what I've done. I'm not even sure if what is happening to me is reversible." Michael seemed to be dwelling in cynicism at that point, despite that spot of hope left. Seeing him depressed, I did not know if it will take days, weeks, months, or even years to let go of his guilt.

* * *

_Eve's POV_

It was one thing to see my father lose control and hurt the ones he loved. It was another that he had become a depressed wreck afterwards. Compared to when I had first met him, he was surprised to see that he had a daughter, but was compassionate and willing to fight for me and my mother. I wanted to see more of that and decided to walk closer to Michael's encasement to try to help him.

"Dad," I said to him. "We may not be able to forget what happened, but we all want to help you." I thought about how Aurora decided to let Antigen experiment on him, despite having the opportunity to stop that from happening; the fact that it was all because Aurora wanted to test us made me irritated personally, especially since she and I were the same person. I was appalled that I could end up alienating my own family the way she did, especially since they are her family too. I was still questioning why she would do that, and I still wondered if she really was a reliable ally or an enemy to us. I did not want to be like her at all; that was why I mustered the courage to try to talk to my father.

Dad started to look towards Mother and I after trying to avoid eye contact with us. I wanted to remind him that no one held any strife against him. We felt uncomfortable seeing what he did, but we needed to try to work things out.

* * *

_October 11th, 2024, 6:30 AM  
Selene's POV_

Lucian let me leave Aurora's safehouse so that I could head back to Antigen's headquarters again. I tried to contact Alan Sebastian for any further information, but to no avail. I, however, was able to get in contact with his associate, Elias Merrick. Mathieu let me use his headset, using an untraceable radio frequency, as well as blood augmentation thanks to Aurora, to prevent anyone from tracking this call. The following is what I got from him.

"Who is this?" Merrick's voice buzzed through my headset.

"Just a contact of Sebastian's." I did not want to release any direct information in the event that he may or may not know my involvement in the Antigen incident.

"Let me guess, you're Selene Valerious." He immediately knew. "One of the test subjects of Antigen that wrecked havok and killed their director, Jacob, am I wrong?"

I sighed in slight frustration. "Listen, what they have been doing is criminal-"

"Yes, I know," Merrick interrupted. "With many of their employees, including Jacob himself, being Lycans in secret." He seemed to favor our side of the story. "Antigen had been trying to cover up this incident, trying to conceal the fact that the employees were non-human. They haven't been quite successful, and there have been attempts to break this cover story by many groups, including Anonymous. There has been a lot of activity from European military forces, especially the Special Immortal Activities Forces, regarding the incident. I feel like I'll be in big shit, since I'm contacting a wanted criminal."

"I'm pretty sure it's been a hot spot over the past few days. I just want to know if you've ever got a hold of Detective Alan Sebastian; I haven't had any contact from him lately."

"Uh, the last time I have had direct contact with Detective Sebastian was two days after the Antigen incident," Merrick explained. "He had been marked as an accomplice to you and has been the subject of attack by Antigen's personnel, i.e. the Lycans, and he needed to be out of contact. I remember him stockpiling on silver and UV explosives, assault rifles, and light-machine guns before leaving the town. It's as if he's preparing for the apocalypse to happen."

"You mean he's not in Budapest anymore?" I asked him.

"That's right. I don't know where he left for. He could be out of Hungary or not. I doubt it; the borders of Hungary had become strictly monitored after the incident had happened, the first time since the Cleansing."

"Did he ever speak to you before he left?"

"The only words he said to me was that he was trying to fully investigate what Antigen's motives were, what other things they could be doing. It's not just you or Subject 2; Antigen has research facilities all over Europe and North America. Other than that, I have nothing on Sebastian. He may have changed his name at this point to prevent anyone from tracking him down."

"Since you knew the real story of what went down, do you know any information regarding Antigen that Sebastian may have researched?"

"Uh, not exactly. Other than that, I don't really know anything. However, last night, I got an e-mail from an unknown user and a code that I am unable to crack."

"A code?"

"Yeah, something that was supposed to be meant for me. I'm assuming it's Sebastian, knowing that he could be tracked if he made contact with me. I'm not sure what to think of it."

"Is there a possibility that you could share it with me? I've done a fair share of code breaking "

"Uh..." Merrick seemed to be reluctant in trying to contact me. "It would be unlikely, as I would be marked as an accomplice as Sebastian has been. I could arrange a meeting in secret or send the e-mail and codes through a secret network."

"Well, I have made contact with a SIAF soldier named Mathieu Walker, otherwise known by his codename, Musician. I know that he uses advanced technology to rat out any criminal immortals."

"That sounds perfect. I can send it to you once you have contacted Mathieu."

"Well, thanks for being kind enough to help me out, even though there was not much you could really do," I told him.

"Well, Sebastian has put a lot of trust towards you. He hopes that you can make a difference in this world, and he knows you are powerful enough to do it."

"Heh, I'm going to need that power a lot." I was not sure if Azazel had any ties to Antigen, or if Antigen was just a red-herring, but I decided to return to Antigen's headquarters for any information on what they had done to Michael. I still had a lot of time before the first major juncture would happen, so I had no other reason not to return.

* * *

**A/N: Subsequent chapters may take a while to make, as I am starting college again very soon. However, now that we've gone to the point where Selene has fully reunited with her family and friends, I'm hoping to create a very interesting and engaging storyline as it continues.  
**

**Also, I plan to divide the story into two fics to make a trilogy with Awakening being the first part, Into the Darkest Shadows being the second, and an untitled third to be the final one.**

**And yes, the associate of Sebastian's is the same one that was investigating the dead body with him around the beginning of Awakening.**


	15. Sisterly Love

_Chapter 15: Sisterly Love  
October 11th, 2024, 12:00 PM  
Budapest, Hungary  
Selene's POV_

Elias Merrick sent me a copy of the e-mail that he was sent. After taking about two hours to encrypt the codes, I discovered a compilation of Sebastian's journal entries after he had left Budapest. Though Aurora had sent some spies to investigate Azazel's origins, I worried about him when he went missing in action. The journals date around the blank period when my family was taken into Aurora's coven.

_October 3rd, 2024  
Sebastian's Log Entry #1_

_After I found out that I was being targeted by the Lycans, I have decided to leave the city to pursue an independent investigation regarding Antigen. They were quick to cover up the incident, calling it a "non-human terrorist attack." Antigen had also withheld any information regarding Selene, Eve, or Michael - the test subjects that they were experimenting on due to fears of suspicion by the government. Meanwhile, I have been labeled a fugitive with Antigen having the support of the European Union to try to arrest me._

_I have tried to contact Selene from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, to no avail. I have a feeling something had happened to her._

_I've gone in hiding in a confidential location to prevent anyone from finding me. I cannot risk revealing where I am right now; I'm pretty sure someone will be able to find these entries in whatever way possible._

_October 5th, 2024  
Entry #2_

_No sign of any Lycan or other immortal activity around my location. Will likely keep laying low here until the Nocturnal Detectors start to notice activity. I have stockpiled some weapons, and I have rigged the location around me with UV and silver mines, just to be safe._

_I have still not received a reply from Selene. Literally nothing since we talked about Rosethorn Trails. I've contemplated heading there to find her and her family, but assuming that the area is unsafe since the incident four years ago, I can't risk it if it means compromising my investigation. I'm worried for her, knowing how stressed she looked when I last saw her._

_Antigen had recently hired the secretary of the Scandinavian sector of their company, Bard Eikerno, as their director after the death of Jacob Lane. This was a very mysterious move, as he was an unknown until now; he was brought into power in 2022, the same year that the Nordic Truce of 2022 was signed. His birth certificate states that he was born in Oslo, Norway in 1995; however, any other information such as his alma mater and his prior work experiences have not been traceable. A more experienced staff member would have been a more suitable replacement._

_It is also unknown if he knows that Jacob Lane and the other Antigen workers are Lycans. I am also uncertain if Eikerno himself is one._

It was clear that Sebastian had shown a bit of uneasiness since I was unconscious from October 3rd to the 10th. But he knew not to follow us, even though Aurora could have been relatively benign (as loosely as the definition would be) to him. He seemed to be very lost, not knowing the possible threat of Azazel that loomed closer every second.

I had a feeling that this "Bard Eikerno" is associated with Azazel. All the more reason to go to Antigen HQ.

Even though the bombing of Budapest was supposed to happen many months from now, I felt like I was in his presence.

* * *

_12:20 PM  
Eve's POV_

I glanced at the mirror in my room for several minutes on end, pondering on the fact that Aurora and I are the same person. Sometimes, when I blink, I could see her in the mirror before the reflection reverted back to my own. "This has got to be a fucking nightmare," I said to myself. "I've only had one true moment of tranquility... with my family. My real family. And I... no, she was torturing them. But why? She went back in time to see them again and the first thing she does is to torture them. How could she let my father just run rampant like that, harming himself and ripping off my mother's arm in the process? And she had the audacity to nearly kill my own mother during their duel."

Then, I remembered what Mathieu told me about his duel with Aurora as well as what other members of her coven had to say about her - her torturous methods of training them, engaging in constantly sparing sessions with the intent to harm them; her psychological attempts to break them such as taunting Mathieu about his brother; her tendency to deliberately hurt herself, especially when she chose not to take anesthesia for the many operations and maintenance sessions for her cybernetics; and the fact that she enjoyed doing it all. She loved the feeling of inflicting pain, even towards her family. Was this her way of showing her love towards them? "She's depraved," I summed up. "Is this really what I could be?" I looked at my hands again. Some of Aurora's soldiers told me that when she was grievously wounded by Azazel, on top of staying in the second stage for a hundred years, she lost much of her humanity.

"No, we are not the same person," I told my reflection. "If she had returned back in time before her confrontation with Azazel… if she hadn't become injured in her fight, she would have been more benign. The person that is supposed to be me died; Aurora is what became of her."

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Three simple sounds interrupted my concentration. "Hello?"

Aurora emerged from the doorway.

"Oh, great. It's you," I groaned. "What do you want?"

"Now, now, is that how you greet your sister?" Aurora asked me in the same playful manner when she fought my mother. "Your other half? Yourself?"

"You may have the same body as I do, but you're not the same person. Not since you tried to kill my mom and let my dad run amok! I know you wanted both of them to achieve that power you have, but couldn't you have done all of this differently?"

Aurora kneeled by my right side. "Believe me, I wish there was a better way to prepare us for Azazel," she said as she started to feel my living right hand with her mechanical ones. "You may deny it, but our family are the only ones that can end this war; if they want to stop him, they have to carry such a burden for the rest of their lives. I knew that the moment my mother and father died in that blast."

"Is there really no other way? You had to pick that specific moment?"

Aurora kept feeling my hand. "I thought I could take Azazel on when I awakened by red irises, but I was not even close compared to him. The thing about this form is that an individual can become very emotionally charged; more so than in their original form." She grips onto my hand slightly tighter, though it did not discomfort me. "Your mother, a calm and collected warrior, displayed very brutal emotions when she was stabbing me."

"You've kept that form since we've met," I commented, looking at her red eyes. "If that form brings heavier emotions, why not just revert to your regular form?"

Aurora took a Marlboro cigarette out and put it in her mouth. "There's so much venom in my body that I cannot get rid of it all," she explained as she lit the cancer stick, inhaling the poisonous smoke, then puffing it out into the air. "If I revert back to my original form, I will die."

"You're dying?"

Aurora nodded. "I never slept for all of these years, fearing that I will revert back if I do. The implants in my body have eased my concentration of this form, but they can only do so much." Despite her melancholy, she chuckled. "I guess now you know why I liked to torture my own kind."

"Not funny," I said.

But Aurora kept chuckling. "I guess we are different after all."

"As far as how different we both are, from what you've described about Azazel, you're more like him than you are with me."

Aurora let go of my hand, taking a slight gasp. I immediately felt regretful of my statement. "Aurora, I'm—"

"Quite a few of my soldiers have said that to me too," Aurora said as she looked at herself in the mirror, particularly her red eyes. "Perhaps that is one good things about dying; I'm glad that I can just die after we kill Azazel. I don't want to see myself become like him." She looked towards me. "It's interesting; Mathieu loved his brother, though our relationship is quite shaky."

* * *

_12:35 PM  
Mathieu's POV_

I sat at the dock of a lake next to Aurora's safehouse after a training session. Even though I had become an immortal, I still felt uneasy about everything around me from Aurora's peculiarities to the looming threat of Azazel.

"Maybe I should have left Michael alone when we sought him out." I turned my head to see Lucian walking towards me. "I could not imagine how powerful he could be had he obtained that power on his own."

I smirked. "Selene would still have an arm… and all two-hundred and six of her bones."

"And Michael would have fought with more awareness during the skirmish," Lucian added. "Believe it or not, had Michael tested negative for being a potential hybrid, you would have been my next person on the list."

"I'm an immortal either way," I said. "I guess it was inevitable that I had to become one." I took a deep breath, putting my fingers on my forehead. "I just can't see myself being a member of these 'covens' that you've had during your war before all this shit went down. I mean, I couldn't even see myself be a special ops soldier when I joined SIAF. Come on, I've been wearing this fucking Opeth t-shirt throughout my services," I said as I pulled on my shirt.

"Renegades can still some... creative thought to popular opinion."

I laughed. "Immortal or not, I am still Mathieu Walker, and I will always be Mathieu until the day I die."

I instantly reminded myself of my brother, who knew me more than anyone else that encountered me. I had grown from someone who just wants to smoke and listen to extreme metal all day, to a powerful immortal who knew he had to take on the ultimate enemy. _Life goes on, no matter what happens to me._

* * *

**A/N: So sorry for the delay. College has been occupying most of my time. This chapter does feel a bit filler-like in my personal opinion, but I'm hoping that the second act will truly start to become interesting within the next chapter. **


	16. Sadist

**A/N: I am anticipating the fanfic to become much darker in tone as it progresses, starting with this chapter, which is saying a lot, since there were some very dark moments beforehand. I hope you've enjoyed this fanfic so far and don't mind the future directions that it will go through; not that it already has gone through a lot of complex and confusing moments before. :)  
**

* * *

_Chapter 16: Sadist  
October 11__th__, 2024, 1:00 PM  
Aurora's Safehouse  
Michael's POV_

"Do you know what you have done to me?" A female voice whispered in my head.

"Who's there?" I gasped. I turned, only to see no one there. I scanned the room, trying to find the source of the voice; my head movements limited due to being in the encasement. _Am I losing my shit again?_

After a few seconds, I heard the voice again. "Just a figure from the past," The source of it being hard to determine. Was it some kind of psychosis? "The one that had been tortured and raped; the one that lost everything because of you."

"What the hell have I done to you?" It felt silly in hindsight, shouting at practically nothing but air, but it felt more likely that what was speaking to me was real – not my imagination.

The voice snickered. "You've set me free. After a tragedy, a silver lining. The evolution of life, and the revolution of society from the errors of mortal stagnancy."

The door to my room slammed open. _Shit._ But I was relieved to see Eve rush in. "I heard a woman's voice here; I felt your thoughts," she replied as she scanned the area. "But I don't see anything."

"I… I couldn't see it either," I replied.

"Who… who was that voice?" Eve asked.

I felt cold; Eve did too. It was the same feeling I had since the skirmish. Although the threat of Azazel would not loom until a little less than a year later, it felt like we were in his presence. "I don't know. If someone… some woman was accusing me of that… it's not like I've done anything criminal to whoever it was." _Whether I was human or hybrid._ "I don't know if it was my imagination, but if that person could get inside my head, she must have the Corvinus strain."

* * *

_1:10 PM  
Antigen HQ  
Selene's POV  
_

"What the hell…?"

The Antigen building was covered in smoke from head to toe. It looked like the aftermath of a war zone, or a bombing. Although it had taken a beating, it had yet to collapse. The populace around the area had either evacuated or headed to take shelter until whatever had happened is solved, and died down.

_This really doesn't look well._

The area was heavily guarded by a mix of Antigen officers and Hungarian military. Lucky for me, I had newer abilities from the second stage Corvinus strain. One of them was blood puppeteering; a technique that can control the mind and/or body of a less powerful being, even the dead, as Aurora had previously demonstrated.

I bit into my wrist and let the blood pour.

* * *

_Benjamin "Hiver" Page's POV_

Seemed like history was repeating itself. Eight days ago, we found Larry "Reaper" Garza unconscious at the entrance of Rosethorn Trails and had been catatonic. Mathieu "Musician" Walker had allegedly traversed there, judging by the previous incident several years ago where Jax "Kingmaker" McKellan was missing.

Jay "Firebird" Wright and I had been sent to Hungary to investigate the recent bombing that occurred at the Antigen Headquarters. First their director is murdered, now another attack. Our general, Albert Fisher, suspected that the test subjects were the ones responsible for the bombing.

"SIAF soldiers?" The Antigen front desk confirmed. "Show us your identities and we'll let you in—"

All of a sudden, we heard one of the military officers laughing hysterically. Maniacally. Then, he pointed his XM8 assault rifle at his fellow comrades, firing at them with both the sixty-round clips and the mounted grenade launcher with no restraint or remorse with frightening accuracy.

Accuracy that only an immortal can achieve.

"Die, you motherfuckers!" he cackled over the sight of the slaughter. "Die!"

"Firebird, take shelter! Get in the entrance!" I commanded.

"Son of a bitch, what the hell is this?" Firebird shouted as we ran inside.

As we looked from the entrance, the remaining soldiers shot the insane officer several times before he collapsed.

"What had gotten into him?" Firebird wondered. "Was he some spy?"

"Well, we can't tell since he's dead. There's something going on," I said.

Then, as the remaining soldiers surveyed the incident, another started laughing before firing his M60 machine gun towards his own squadmates.

This psychological madness shifted through person to person until one wounded soldier was left standing; the others dead or too wounded to stand. The soldier removed the pin of a grenade and tossed it in the entrance.

"Shit!" Firebird shouted as we escaped the explosion radius. He turned towards the soldier and fired a bullet in his head.

"Holy fuck," I said, looking at the aftermath of the carnage.

"This is fucking bizarre," Firebird commented. "Wait until Fisher gets a load of this."

"That woman."

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"Guess I got a little carried away," I said to myself. I was the one that took control of the gunner, taking control of his mind and using him to prevent any… unnecessary detriments to me. I walked towards the entrance, using another technique, life drain, to wither the remaining soldiers' life forces away when they came upon my aura of blood. My powers had doubled since the Antigen incident; simply walking into a battlefield of human and standard Lycan soldiers felt like an average human driving to their workplace.

I did not even have to look at a soldier as he shot at me. I simply caught the bullet and flung it into his head.

It felt… good.

Euphoric.

* * *

_Hiver's POV_

We saw the test subject, Selene, casually walk into the entrance. We turned on our invisibility cloaks to remain undetected. Unfortunately, as she walked towards us, she immediately pointed her pistol at us. "Think I can't see you?" she said, staring at us with those blood-red irises.

"Fuck this!" Firebird shouted as he opened fire at her. At such close range, I thought that she would be hit, but she swiftly dodged his line of fire at a speed that not even an average immortal can comprehend and grabbed the barrel of the gun with her left hand while grabbing his neck with her mechanical right one.

"Whoa, wait!" I shouted. "Just let him go and we will let you go on."

I felt cold around her. The black dress she wore was like seeing a pitch-black silhouette in a grey landscape; her right mechanical hand looked skeletal; and those red irises were as if she was raised by a demon lord.

"SIAF," Selene said as she read the emblems on our sleeves. She immediately let go of Firebird. "That was Mathieu Walker's former unit."

"You know Musician?" I questioned her.

"Yes," Selene simply replied.

"Do you know where he has gone?" Firebird asked her.

"Let's just say he's quit your division," Selene coldly stated.

"Don't tell me…" Firebird raised his M4A2 at her. "You turned him, didn't you?"

"Firebird, she's stronger than you think," I reminded him, holding his gun before he put it down. "Did you really turn Mathieu into one of your kind?"

"He was always an immortal," she coldly replied before leaving.

I turned to Firebird. "Seems like whatever she did to Mathieu, it's bigger than we think."

* * *

_Selene's POV_

Both the soldiers were shaking and acted tense during our encounter. When we had first encountered Mathieu, he was initially fearful for his life, but had a good heart. Mathieu had said the same things for some of his mates that were close to him; Hiver and Firebird being two of them.

I looked at my reflection in the cracked windowpane, staring at my red eyes again. _This form is emotionally driven; one will find enjoyment when in this state_, I recalled Aurora saying. _That is how Azazel lost his ways, and I fear it will happen to me one day. _

Aurora was right. I felt like a different person when I was in this form, gaining a sadistic sense of pleasure and amusement, seeing one of the soldiers I controlled slaughtering his own allies. Never since my first few missions as a Death Dealer had I found pleasure in the suffering of others. I could remember hundreds of years ago, when Viktor had just turned me into a vampire, that I had preferred to torture a Lycan rather than my usual method of simply killing them with my weapons. At least at that time, I wanted them to feel the suffering I felt when I thought they were responsible for killing my family. But in this case, there was no reason I should be acting that way. Antigen meant nothing, especially after I had become more powerful.

That was why I acted more savage than usual during my duel with Aurora.

I reverted back to my normal form; eyes morphing from red back to blue. _No reason to fool around; just gotta find out what Antigen did to Michael._

I turned to another corridor to see the corpse of a female scientist. All four of her limbs were amputated with a gaping wound in her chest, where her heart was.

Those were the same wounds Aurora suffered.

The further I traversed through the halls, I saw two more bodies lying bloodied. With the same wounds the previous scientist had.

_This doesn't bode well._

I tapped onto my earpiece. "Lucian, do you copy?"

"I hear you, Selene."

"I'm at Antigen. These workers… they have the same wounds. All limbs amputated and were impaled in the chest."

"According to Aurora, this is a ritual that Azazel and his men performed to mortal beings to prove the strength of his cause. To render them helpless when they fight against it."

"Don't tell me that Azazel must be close," I said in an anxious tone.

"I'm sending Mathieu to back you up just in case," Lucian assured. "This may be one step to finding out who Azazel is, and a chance to kill him prematurely."

After our transmission ended, I found myself at the entrance of the main data hub of the building. _Hopefully I can get something here._

* * *

_Mathieu's POV_

I started running from Aurora's base to Antigen HQ at a speed that could roughly mirror a car speeding on a freeway. Aurora had caught up to me, barely glancing as she advanced.

"Nice to see you tagging along," I said, although it was only because of her strength rather than _her_, especially considering her antics.

"If this is a chance to take down Azazel, I'm taking it," Aurora responded. She looked at her hands again. "It's odd, though, to see these ritual killings occurring so early in the timeline."

"Did this incident occur during your time?" I asked her.

"No, this incident is completely new to me," Aurora replied. "Azazel did not start his ritual killings until _after_ the bombing. If he did these this early, I might have missed it."

"Do you think that you and your coven had done anything to make it happen this way?"

"We've kept this timeline the same until now," Aurora said. "Even if some small things changed, it's very unlikely someone would just bomb Antigen like that."

"Hey, do you think that someone else could have traveled back in time?" I theorized. "Besides you?"

"There is no fucking way at all," Aurora denied. "Azazel had presumed that I had died during our duel; I built my time machine in secret; I'm the only one who knows how to build one! Even if someone from my timeline could have traveled to this one, it's unnecessary. When I traveled back in time, I created another universe. The original timeline will be left intact. I've left that universe to die; I won't let this one fall." She looked down. "Still, it does not feel right."

Aurora seemed more serious than usual. Dare I say, a bit insecure. I could not help but feel that she was afraid. Afraid that someone else other than her might have been affecting this timeline.

Afraid that Azazel, the one from her timeline, might have followed her.

Or perhaps Aurora was losing herself; that her mind was being psychologically affected to the point where she could not determine specific points clearly. But the former theory seemed more logical.

* * *

_Selene's POV_

"Dammit!" I shouted, being unable to boot up the main computer. I ripped it apart and removed the small hard drive. _I'm going to have to recover the data through other means._

Suddenly, the left side of my upper back jolted with pain. I turned to see a giant spider, the size of my head, digging its fangs in my back.

I wrestled the arachnid off of me and shot it with my entire clip, freaking out at the sight. I looked at the hallway to see an army of spiders approaching me. "What the fuck?" I reloaded my pistols and continued shooting as they drew near me. One of them jumped at me, digging its fangs into the left side of my abdomen. I quickly swatted it off of me with my pistol. Another clawed and bit on my right leg.

Although I did not want to use the second stage because of how it affected me, I had no choice and activated it again, using the aura of my blood as a force field to repulse the spiders, obliterating them into ashes.

I collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood stained from the spiders' venom. The same venom that Aurora pierced me with.

I tore a pack of advanced cloned blood from my medical kit, gulping through it as if it was the fountain of youth. While it healed my wounds, I still felt the adverse effects from the venom.

_I've got to get out of here! Blast it, Mathieu. Where are you?_

I crawled out of the room, ready to escape this godforsaken place.

"You're not going anywhere," a baritone voice boasted at the opposite end of the hallway.

The figure was of a fairly tall height with an athletic build. His face pale with short, black hair with a distinct goatee; his body covered in a black cloak. There were smaller arachnids crawling all over his body. He sported those red irises, meaning that he had inherited the Corvinus Strain. If he was not one of Aurora's...

He was one of Azazel's.


End file.
